Holiday pay during release from work

If the employee was released from work duties until the termination of the employment relationship, the question arises as to whether the holiday balance is compensated by the release or must be compensated at the end of the contract.

According to case law, the answer to this question depends in particular on the relationship between the period of release and the number of holidays, since the dismissed employee must have sufficient time during the release - in addition to his or her holidays - to devote to finding a new job.

In terms of a (rough) rule of thumb, it can be assumed that the compensation of the holiday balance is possible if the number of holidays does not amount to more than one third of the period of release (calculated in working days). This means that, for example, in the case of a three-month period of release, an average of 21.75 days (corresponding to the average number of working days per month) can be counted as compensation of the holiday balance.