In addition to the right to vacation, employees have the right to be off on public holidays and bank holidays in many cases. They also have the right to leave of absence and, in some cases, the right to compensation leave. In this article, we will go through the most important points to keep in mind - both for you as an employee and an employer.
According to the law (1989:253) on public holidays, it is specified which days are public holidays, often called red days. These days are usually non-working days, which means that you are off but still receive your regular pay if you have a monthly salary. This also applies to some holidays such as Midsummer's Eve, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. If you work in a business that needs to operate on public holidays, you are not excused from work, but you usually receive compensation for working on unsociable hours. How public holidays are handled, whether they are non-working days or compensated with extra pay, is not regulated by the Working Hours Act but is determined through agreement between you and your employer or according to applicable collective agreements.
Compensatory leave means that if you have worked overtime or extra hours, you can choose to take time off instead of receiving monetary compensation. Compensatory leave is counted as regular working hours when calculating working time. This is regulated in your employment contract or collective agreement.
Leave of absence means that you are granted time off from work without pay. According to the Study Leave Act, you have the right to leave of absence for studies. Your employer can also grant leave of absence for other reasons, such as trying out a different job. There is no obligation for the employer to grant leave of absence to try out a different job, but the employer must grant it if you want to start your own business. You must have been employed for at least six months and can take leave of absence for up to six months.
You also have the right to leave of absence for care of a family member according to the Carer's Leave Act, with a right to 100 days of leave. There is also a statutory right to leave of absence due to urgent family reasons, such as illness or accident in the family. In addition, your employer must grant leave of absence for you to fulfill political assignments or for military service within the total defense system, such as conscript service. Besides these statutory rights, your employer can grant leave of absence in other situations, such as for a longer vacation. However, the employer is not obliged to grant such leave of absence but can do so through an agreement between you and the employer.
According to the law (1989:253) on public holidays, it is specified which days are public holidays, often called red days, such as New Year's Day and National Day. These days are often non-working days, which means that employees are off but still receive their regular pay if they have a monthly salary. This also applies to some holidays such as Midsummer's Eve, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. In businesses that need to function on public holidays, employees are usually compensated with extra pay for working on unsociable hours instead of being given time off. How public holidays are handled, whether they are non-working days or compensated with extra pay, is not regulated by the Working Hours Act but is determined through agreement between you and your employees or in your applicable collective agreement. There is thus no statutory right for employees to have time off, but it is
Compensatory leave means that if an employee has worked overtime or extra hours, they can choose to take time off instead of receiving monetary compensation. Compensatory leave is counted as regular working hours. How compensatory leave works is regulated in the employment contract or collective agreement, and there is no stipulation in the law but is handled through agreement with the employee.
Leave of absence means that an employee is granted time off from work without pay. According to the Study Leave Act, employees have the right to leave of absence for studies. There is no obligation for you as an employer to grant leave of absence to try out a different job, but you must grant it if the employee wants to start their own business. The employee must have been employed for at least six months and can then take leave of absence for up to six months.
Employees also have the right to leave of absence for care of a family member according to the Carer's Leave Act, with a right to 100 days of leave. Employees also have the right to leave of absence due to urgent family reasons, such as illness or accident in the family. In addition, you must grant leave of absence for the employee to fulfill political assignments or for military service within the total defense system, such as conscript service. Besides these statutory rights, you can grant leave of absence in other situations, such as for a longer vacation. However, you are not obliged to grant such leave of absence but can do so through an agreement between you and the employee. If such leave of absence has been granted, the employee has no right to terminate the leave of absence prematurely.
