Do I have a right to vacation time next year?

As an employee you only have a right to vacation days if you have worked in the previous year. For one year of work you get four weeks of vacation time, for six months, two weeks, etc. In short, you have to earn your vacation time.

If you have just graduated, you naturally don't have the chance of building up a full vacation period. That is why there is a "youth vacation" system. With this you can supplement your insufficient number of paid vacation days up to a period of four weeks. For those days you will be paid 65% of your salary, up to a specific limit, naturally. The exact amount is listed on the website of the National Employment Office (NEO).

Conditions

You have a right to youth vacation days if you:

• are younger than 25 on December 31 of the "vacation earning year"; that is the year prior to that in which you are taking the vacation days.
• you have completed your studies;
• you have worked at least one month after completion of your studies.

And you have a right to payment if you:

• you have not been considered for a youth holiday benefit payment in an earlier calendar year;
• you did not receive any occupational or replacement income before the youth vacation days.

The system of youth vacation is applicable to the private sector, different rules apply in the governmental sector.

You can request your youth vacation days from the NEO.