Holiday and leave entitlement in the Netherlands: how many days, requests, sickness and expiry

Every employee in the Netherlands is entitled to paid holiday of at least four times the agreed number of working hours per week: 20 days a year for a full-time five-day week (Article 7:634 of the Dutch Civil Code). Many contracts and collective agreements give more; those extra days are "above-statutory". The employer sets holidays in accordance with the employee's wishes unless there are weighty reasons against it, and must object in writing within two weeks. Statutory days expire six months after the end of the year in which they were earned; above-statutory days become time-barred after five years. Holiday continues to build up during sickness, and unused days are paid out when the employment ends.

Holiday entitlement at a glance

• Minimum: four times the weekly working hours per year (Article 7:634).
• Requests: granted according to the employee's wishes unless weighty reasons oppose; written objection within two weeks, otherwise the holiday is fixed (Article 7:638(2)).
• Paid: the employee keeps the wage during holiday (Article 7:639).
• Expiry: statutory days six months after the end of the year of accrual (Article 7:640a); above-statutory days five years (Article 7:642).
• Sickness: holiday accrues during sickness; sick days during a holiday are not holiday unless the employee agrees (Articles 7:637 and 7:638(8)).
• No buy-out of statutory days during employment; above-statutory days can be bought out by written agreement (Article 7:640).
• End of employment: unused days are paid out (Article 7:641).

On this page

How Many Holiday Days Do Employees Get in the Netherlands?

At least four times the agreed working hours per week, per year of full entitlement to wages (Article 7:634 of the Dutch Civil Code). An employee who has a right to wages for only part of the year earns a proportional part.

Days above this minimum, often agreed in the contract or collective labour agreement, are called above-statutory (bovenwettelijke) days. The distinction matters, because the law allows more flexibility for those extra days: different expiry, buy-out, and rules on sickness. For the difference with holiday pay, see holiday allowance.

How Does an Employee Request Holiday?

Unless the holiday is fixed by written agreement, collective agreement or statute, the employer sets the start and end of the holiday in accordance with the employee's wishes, unless weighty reasons oppose it. If the employer does not raise weighty reasons in writing within two weeks of the employee's written request, the holiday is fixed as the employee wished (Article 7:638(2)).

• The employer must give every employee the opportunity each year to take at least the statutory holiday (Article 7:638(1)).
• The employer sets the holiday in good time, so the employee can make arrangements (Article 7:638(4)).
• Remaining holiday can be taken in days or hours, unless weighty reasons oppose it (Article 7:638(6)).
• For above-statutory days, the two-week term can be varied in writing to the employee's detriment (Article 7:638(7)).

When Can an Employer Refuse or Change Holiday?

Only for weighty reasons (gewichtige redenen). Even then, the employee can ask that the holiday be set so that they can take two consecutive weeks, or twice one week, as far as their entitlement allows (Article 7:638(3)).

An employer that wants to change a holiday already fixed needs weighty reasons and must consult the employee first. It must compensate the damage the employee suffers from the change, such as cancelled travel (Article 7:638(5)). Whether a reason is weighty depends on the circumstances of the case.

Can an Employer Impose Fixed Holiday Periods?

Only if the holiday periods are fixed by written agreement, collective labour agreement or statute. Article 7:638(2) applies only insofar as the holiday is not already fixed in one of these ways.

This is how company closures, for example a fixed summer shutdown in a sector, are arranged. Without such a basis, the employer cannot simply designate periods as holiday.

How Do Holiday and Sickness Interact?

A sick employee keeps building up holiday, because the right to wages continues during sickness. Days on which the employee is sick count as holiday only if the employee agrees in that specific case (Article 7:637(1)), and the same applies to sick days during a fixed holiday (Article 7:638(8)).

A written agreement can provide that sick days count as holiday, but only up to the number of above-statutory days agreed for that year (Articles 7:637(2) and 7:638(8)). The statutory minimum is always protected. See also sick pay in the Netherlands.

Do Pregnancy, Maternity and Other Leave Count as Holiday?

No. Days of pregnancy and maternity leave, and of adoption or foster-care leave, can never be designated as holiday (Article 7:636(2)). Holiday continues to build up over the full working hours during those periods (Article 7:635(2) and (3)).

Holiday also builds up during certain other periods without wages, for example during parental leave under the Work and Care Act or when the employee is involuntarily unable to work for reasons other than sickness (Article 7:635(1)). Such days can only count as holiday if the employee agrees in that case (Article 7:636(1)). See maternity leave.

When Do Holiday Days Expire in the Netherlands?

Statutory days expire six months after the last day of the calendar year in which they were earned, unless the employee was reasonably unable to take holiday until then (Article 7:640a). Days earned in 2026 therefore expire on 1 July 2027. A written agreement can extend this period in the employee's favour.

Above-statutory days do not expire in this way, but the claim to them becomes time-barred five years after the last day of the calendar year in which they arose (Article 7:642). Under EU law, the employer must actually enable the employee to take the holiday and inform them in good time that it will otherwise be lost; if it does not, it cannot rely on the expiry (CJEU 6 November 2018, C-684/16, Max Planck, ECLI:EU:C:2018:874). More on this in annual leave under Dutch law.

Can Holiday Days Be Sold or Bought Out?

Not the statutory days: during the employment, the employee cannot waive them in exchange for compensation (Article 7:640(1)). Above-statutory days can be bought out if agreed in writing (Article 7:640(2)).

The rule protects the purpose of statutory holiday: actual rest. The employee keeps the wage during holiday (Article 7:639). In some sectors, a collective agreement lets the employer meet this obligation through a holiday fund or holiday vouchers (Article 7:639(2)).

What Happens to Holiday Days When Employment Ends?

An employee who still has holiday entitlement when the employment ends receives payment of the wage for those days (Article 7:641(1)). The employer must also give a statement of the remaining entitlement.

Holiday can be taken during the notice period if set in the usual way; the employer cannot simply declare the notice period to be holiday. See the notice period and the final settlement.

Key Legal Sources

• Articles 7:634 to 7:642 of the Dutch Civil Code, holiday
• Article 7:638, setting and changing holiday
• Articles 7:640a and 7:642, expiry and limitation

Dutch Civil Code in English: Article 7:640a (expiry of statutory holiday). All translated articles.