As of July 1, 2021, statutory vacation days accrued by employees in 2020 will, in principle, expire. The employer is required to alert employees to that expiration date and give them the opportunity to still use the vacation days.
If the employer does not inform the employee in time or is unclear about the expiry period (infographic), the employee retains his right to the unused statutory vacation days after the expiry period. In that case, these statutory vacation days will only become time-barred five years after the year in which they were accrued, just like the statutory vacation days. This has been decided in case law. Due to the corona crisis, many employees have a large number of days left over. Due to travel restrictions and working from home, people were housebound, so the need to take days off will not have been felt by many workers. There are also sectors that were completely closed due to corona. The accumulation of vacation days now makes it all the more important to work on them.
Send written reminder about vacation day expiration date
If the employer has not sent employees a written warning of the approaching expiry date, it would be wise to do so. If the employer has already warned the employees, he may consider reminding them once again by e-mail of the statutory expiry period. By having the employees confirm that they have received the message, the employer can subsequently prove that he has given them timely notice. An employee who nevertheless does not take his statutory days on time can then be deemed to have consciously waived them (although the situation may be more complex in the event of incapacity for work). Statutory vacation days may not be paid out in advance or set off against days of illness.
Employee cannot be forced to take vacation days
In principle, the employer cannot force employees to take vacation days. However, he can make it attractive, for example by taking work away from the employee, so that he experiences the freedom to take hours. Naturally, this requires good internal coordination, in which managers have an important role to play.
Legally, the employer may designate collective vacation days, but this must be regulated in the collective bargaining agreement or employment contract. The Friday after Ascension Day is often a suitable 'candidate'. This year, King's Day falls on a Tuesday, so Monday 26 April can also be a good option. A company scheme does require the agreement of the employees. It is therefore difficult to arrange this on an ad hoc basis.