German holiday entitlement is governed by the Bundesurlaubsgesetz (BUrlG — Federal Holiday Act), which establishes a statutory minimum of 24 days’ paid annual leave for a six-day working week. That is equivalent to 20 days for an employee who normally works five days per week. Employment contracts, collective agreements (Tarifverträge), and works agreements (Betriebsvereinbarungen) can provide more generous entitlement. Public holidays (gesetzliche Feiertage) are separate from annual leave, and pay for working time lost because of a public holiday is governed by the Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz (EntgFG).
Free calculator: Use the German-language Urlaubsrechner to estimate the statutory minimum for a one-to-six-day working week.
This guide covers the statutory minimum, public holidays, carry-over rules, part-time entitlement, and the employer’s obligation to enable informed leave-taking.
Key takeaways
- Section 3 BUrlG provides a statutory minimum of 24 Werktage for a six-day working week.
- For a five-day working week, the equivalent statutory minimum is 20 days (24 × 5/6).
- Statutory public holidays are not BUrlG Werktage. Section 2 EntgFG generally requires the employer to pay for working time lost because of a public holiday, subject to the unexcused-absence rule in Section 2(3).
- The minimum entitlement is the floor — collective agreements and employment contracts commonly provide more.
- Leave must be taken in the leave year — unused leave can only be carried over where the employee was unable to take it due to urgent operational reasons or reasons personal to the employee.
- Statutory leave does not normally expire unless the employer has clearly told the employee how much leave remains, invited them to take it, and warned them about the applicable deadline.
The statutory minimum
Section 1 BUrlG creates the right to paid annual leave. Section 3 BUrlG sets its minimum duration at 24 Werktage, based on a six-day working week. For a five-day working week, the calculation is:
24 days × 5/6 = 20 days
This is the minimum. The employment contract or collective agreement can provide more, but not less.
Collective agreements
Many collective agreements provide more generous leave. Employers should identify the specific Tarifvertrag or Betriebsvereinbarung that applies rather than relying on a sector-wide estimate. Contractual or collectively agreed additional leave may also have different carry-over and expiry rules, provided the statutory minimum remains protected.
Public holidays
Section 2 BUrlG defines which workers the Act covers; it does not regulate public-holiday pay. Public holidays are mainly determined by state law, so the applicable calendar depends on the employee’s place of work and sometimes on local rules.
Under Section 3(2) BUrlG, Sundays and statutory public holidays are not Werktage. A public holiday that falls on a day the employee would normally work therefore does not consume a day of annual leave. Section 2 EntgFG generally requires the employer to pay the remuneration the employee would have received for working time lost because of that public holiday; Section 2(3) excludes employees who are absent without excuse on the last working day before or first working day after it.
How annual leave is calculated
Qualifying period
The employee first acquires the full statutory annual entitlement after the employment relationship has existed for six months — Section 4 BUrlG. A one-twelfth entitlement for each full month applies only in the cases listed in Section 5(1) BUrlG, including where the employee cannot complete the six-month waiting period in that calendar year or leaves before completing it.
Example: An employee starts on 1 April and remains employed after the six-month waiting period. Once the waiting period is complete, they acquire the full statutory entitlement for that calendar year, not merely 6/12 of it. Any additional contractual leave can follow separate pro-rata rules if the contract or applicable collective agreement validly distinguishes it from statutory leave.
Part-time workers
Part-time workers receive the statutory minimum in proportion to the number of days they normally work, using 24 days over a six-day week as the base:
| Working days per week | Leave entitlement |
|---|---|
| 5 | 20 days |
| 4 | 16 days |
| 3 | 12 days |
| 2 | 8 days |
| 1 | 4 days |
Section 5(2) BUrlG requires a fraction of at least half a day in a statutory partial-leave calculation to be rounded up. A smaller fraction is not automatically rounded down or forfeited; absent a valid different rule, it remains a fractional entitlement.
Carry-over rules
Under Section 7(3) BUrlG, leave must generally be granted and taken in the current calendar year. Transfer is permitted only where the employee was unable to take it due to:
- Urgent operational reasons (dringende betriebliche Gründe) — the employer’s business needs prevented the leave.
- Personal reasons (in persönlichen Gründen) — for example, the employee was unable to take leave because of illness.
Validly transferred leave must generally be granted and taken in the first three months of the following calendar year.
The statutory entitlement does not generally expire merely because the employee did not request it. The Federal Labour Court requires the employer to identify the employee’s concrete entitlement, invite them to take it in time, and clearly warn that it will otherwise expire. Different rules may apply to clearly separated contractual or collectively agreed additional leave.
Illness during leave
If the employee is medically certified as unable to work during a period of leave, those certified days do not count as annual leave — Section 9 BUrlG. The days return to the employee’s leave balance; they do not automatically extend the originally approved leave period.
The employer’s obligation to enable leave-taking
The employer is not merely a passive recipient of leave requests. The employer must concretely inform the employee of the entitlement, invite timely leave-taking, clearly warn of expiry, and genuinely enable the employee to take leave. This does not require the employer to force the employee to use it.
If the employee does not request leave, the employer should:
- Tell the employee the concrete amount of leave available for the relevant year.
- Invite the employee to request the leave early enough to take it.
- Clearly explain when the leave will expire if the employee knowingly chooses not to take it.
This duty does not create a general requirement to impose leave unilaterally. When setting dates, the employer must consider the employee’s wishes under Section 7(1) BUrlG, subject to urgent operational needs and competing requests with greater social priority.
Payment in lieu
Payment in lieu of untaken annual leave is only permitted on termination of employment — Section 7(4) BUrlG. During employment, statutory leave must be taken as leave — the employer cannot pay in lieu instead.
Where employment ends and statutory leave can no longer be granted, it must be compensated. Section 11 BUrlG generally bases statutory holiday pay on average earnings over the previous 13 weeks, excluding additional overtime earnings. Separate rules may govern additional contractual or collectively agreed leave.
Common pitfalls
1. Assuming leave is lost automatically
Leave is not lost automatically. The employer must give the required information, invitation, and warning and genuinely enable leave-taking. The 31 March deadline generally applies only to leave validly transferred for urgent operational reasons or reasons personal to the employee.
2. Not counting public holidays
Public holidays that fall within a period of leave do not count as annual leave days. If an employee takes a week off and Monday is a public holiday, the employee has used 4 days of annual leave, not 5.
3. Rounding down part-time entitlement
Part-time leave must be at least the pro rata statutory minimum. Fractions of at least half a day arising under Section 5 must be rounded up; smaller fractions remain fractional unless a valid law, collective agreement, or contract provides otherwise.
4. Paying in lieu during employment
Paying in lieu of untaken leave during employment is unlawful. The employee must take the leave.
Putting it into practice
Five steps to manage holiday entitlement:
- Record the statutory minimum and the contractual entitlement — ensure employees receive at least the statutory minimum, even if the contract provides more.
- Track qualifying periods and Section 5 cases separately — completing six months can create the full statutory entitlement for that calendar year.
- Give a concrete expiry notice — tell each employee their remaining entitlement, invite them to take it, and explain the applicable deadline.
- Monitor public holidays — check the applicable state and local calendar, and exclude public holidays from annual-leave deductions.
- Enable leave to be taken — do not obstruct requests, and apply the employee-wishes rule in Section 7(1).
A leave management system that tracks entitlement by employee, calculates the qualifying period, excludes public holidays from leave deductions, and alerts you when leave is not being taken makes German holiday compliance straightforward.
Sources
- Bundesurlaubsgesetz (BUrlG) (primary source)
- Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz, Section 2 (public-holiday pay)
- Federal Labour Court — 9 AZR 321/16 (invitation and expiry notice)
- Federal Labour Court — 9 AZR 200/17 (fractional leave)
Last updated: 24 August 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice. German holiday law interacts with collective agreements, works agreements, and state-specific public holiday rules — consult a German employment law specialist for specific situations.