Summer means summer holiday

21.6.2022

TEXT HEIKKI JOKINEN
ILLUSTRATION TUOMAS IKONEN

Summer is here. And, hope­fully, summer holi­days, too. If emplo­yed, the Finnish Annual Holi­days Act says that you have the right to a paid annual holiday.

The mini­mum length is stipu­la­ted in the legis­la­tion, but many trade unions have reac­hed better deals in their collec­tive agreements.

If there is no speci­fic provi­sion for annual holi­days in the collec­tive agree­ment, the law will apply. Union shop stewards can inform you what the situa­tion is in your workplace.

As a rule of thumb, an emplo­yee will earn annual holi­day pay for every month which inclu­des at least 14 working days. Such months are called full holi­day credit months (loman­mää­räy­ty­mis­kuu­kausi).

Should your work be part-time or infrequent and does not make up 14 full working days in a month, anot­her rule applies. Then, 35 working hours per calen­dar month is enough to earn annual holi­day pay.

You earn days of holi­day by working during the holi­day credit year (loman­mää­räy­ty­mis­vuosi), from 1 April to 31 March. If your emplo­y­ment has conti­nued unin­ter­rup­ted during this time, or longer, you have the right to 2.5 days paid holi­day days for every month.

Have you been emplo­yed for less than one year, the right to a paid annual holi­day is only two days per month.

In most workplaces, a holi­day bonus is paid, too. This is not based on legis­la­tion, it comes from the collec­tive agreements.

When using the earned holi­days, Satur­days are also coun­ted in, even though you are not working on Satur­days. This means that for every holi­day week you use six earned leave days.

As a gene­ral rule, emplo­yees will get their regu­lar pay during the holi­days. In most workplaces, a holi­day bonus is paid, too. This is not based on legis­la­tion, it comes from the collec­tive agree­ments. For this reason, the rules may vary, but in gene­ral it is 50 per cent of the pay you will get on your annual holiday.

The holi­day bonus is a result of the metal workers’ seven week strike in 1971. One of the predeces­sors of the Industrial Union, the Metal Workers’ Union, got it in their collec­tive agree­ments back then. The prac­tice soon spread to prac­tically all collec­tive agreements.

Illness might hit during the annual holi­day. If you have four weeks or less annual leave, illness does not cut your holi­day or pay. You have the right to post­pone your holi­day. Of course, you must notify your emplo­yer without delay.

Those with at least five weeks annual holi­day have a six holi­day days´ waiting period before the emplo­yer must post­pone the rest of the holi­day. This means that you lose a maxi­mum of one week of your annual holiday.

When you fall ill before the holi­day, the emplo­yer must post­pone your annual holi­day if you ask. A proper medical certi­ficate is needed in all cases.

 

The Industrial Union website in English: www.teollisuusliitto.fi/en.