Encourage leave registration

An excessive leave backlog at the end of the calendar year has been a recurring problem for several years. Insufficient management of leave-taking and leave registration appears to be the main issue, resulting in disproportionate leave balances and significant financial reserves. As a supervisor, you and the university are responsible for encouraging employees to take and register their holiday leave. Supervisors play an active and supportive role in this process. The available options are outlined below.

Discussing the issue with employees

Encourage employees to regularly check their leave balance and register their holiday hours. In addition to making formal agreements with your employees, you can also encourage your teams to think about their leave balance in a more informal way. One way to do this is by discussing holiday and leave hours during weekly kick-offs or other regular meetings. This will help you make leave hours a regular point of discussion within your teams.

You can also consult the overview in BASS Supervisor to see which employees currently have a high leave balance. Checking this overview regularly will give you insight into leave-taking and leave registration and allow you to take timely action when necessary. Discuss with your employees what you can do to prevent an excessive leave backlog at the end of the calendar year.

Annual appraisal interview

Holidays and leave registration can be discussed during the annual appraisal interview to identify any challenges and to set goals for the coming year. When holiday plans are discussed early on, holidays can be scheduled more effectively and leave hours are less likely to expire.

(Written) agreements

If an employee fails to arrange their holiday hours for the current calendar year by 1 July, you are entitled to set a holiday period equal to a maximum of four times the employee’s weekly working hours.

Annual written agreements on holiday hours

Als een medewerker op 1 juli van het lopende kalenderjaar nog geen afspraken heeft gemaakt over het opnemen van vakantie-uren in het lopende kalenderjaar, kun je als leidinggevende een periode van vakantie vaststellen van maximaal viermaal de voor de medewerker geldende wekelijkse arbeidsduur. 

At Radboud University, full-time employees are entitled to carry over 80 holiday hours at the end of the calendar year without a written agreement, as outlined in the Flexible Working Hours Scheme. Employees who carry over more than 80 hours will lose their right to participate in the plus variant of this scheme. As a supervisor, you must consult the HR advisor to determine that the standard working week of 38 hours (which entitles an employee to 232 holiday leave hours on a full-time basis) applies for the coming calendar year (or as long as more than 80 hours of holiday entitlement remain at the end of subsequent calendar years). This serves as a substitute for the plus variant of the 40-hour Flexible Working Hours Scheme, which has 96 compensation hours. 

Possibility of carrying over more than 80 holiday hours into the next calendar year

An employee can carry over more than 80 holiday hours into the next calendar year without a written agreement. However, as a supervisor, you must ensure that the employee works according to the standard hours. In this case, the employee is no longer entitled to participate in the plus variant of the Flexible Working Hours Scheme.

No written agreement for carrying over more than 80 holiday hours into the next calendar year and no arrangement has been made for the employee to work according to the standard hours

The employee must use the statutory holiday hours of the current year before 1 July of the following year, otherwise those hours will expire. This is also applicable if the supervisor has arranged for the employee to work according to the standard hours. The statutory holiday hours are equal to four times the weekly working hours. For a full-time employee, this is 152 hours. For the remaining hours of non-statutory leave carried over, the employee must, within six months of the last day of the calendar year in which the hours of non-statutory leave were accrued, make a written agreement with the supervisor to take those remaining hours of leave within a maximum of five years after the calendar year during which they were accrued. As a supervisor, you are responsible for ensuring that your employee complies with this and take timely action if this is not the case.

Option in the following year if there is no written agreement and the employee has not been working the standard hours

If an employee fails to request their excess statutory leave carried over from the previous year within six months of the new calendar year and if no written agreements have been made about postponing this carry-over, you as a supervisor can determine when these hours must be taken within twelve months of the calendar year in which they were accrued. An employee may therefore be required to use their non-statutory leave hours from the first year in the second year, as per the supervisor’s instructions, thereby reducing the remaining hours from the first year to zero. This does not apply if the employee makes timely arrangements with their supervisor for using the hours later (within five years of the end of the calendar year in which the holiday hours were accrued). 

No agreements on taking holiday hours; the employee has not used holiday hours and the supervisor has taken no action

The statutory holiday hours from the first year expire on 1 July of the second year. The non-statutory holiday hours expire at the end of the sixth year. 

Payment of holiday hours

Rules on the payment of holiday hours for temporary contracts

As a supervisor, you are responsible for ensuring that employees use their holiday hours during the contract period. The employees themselves are also responsible for complying with this. Employees know well in advance that their employment contract will end and should therefore make every effort to take holidays in good time. The Holiday and Leave Regulations therefore state that the employee must use as many of their holiday hours as possible before the end of their employment contract. The supervisor must give the employee the opportunity to do so. If the employee has any remaining holiday hours at the end of the employment contract, these hours will be paid out. 

Options in the Selection Model to sell holiday hours

The Employment Terms Selection Model gives employees the opportunity to use holiday hours in a tax-efficient manner. The employee can use a maximum of 76 holiday hours per year; for example, for a bicycle for commuting to work or as a supplement to the travel allowance. Of these, the employee can sell a maximum of 38 holiday hours per year for additional gross income. For more information, see the Selection Model regulations.

Regulation Selection Model

Holiday hours from previous years and the Employment Terms Selection Model 

It is possible to use holiday hours from previous years in the Selection Model. Holiday hours are understood to be the non-statutory holiday hours allocated for the relevant calendar year, the non-statutory holiday hours from previous years that have not yet been taken and the compensation hours from the relevant calendar year. These hours may all be used in the Selection Model, up to the maximum number of hours to be used. 

Illness

Holiday accrual during illness

The employee continues to accrue their normal holiday hours while they are ill. By the same token, if the ill employee goes on holiday or uses holiday time, the holiday hours are deducted according to the normal working hours per day. The supervisor ensures that the ill employee also uses their holiday time. 

Expiration of holiday hours if an ill employee does not use them

The statutory hours also expire for an ill employee on 1 July of the second year. This does not apply if the employee cannot use their holiday time for medical reasons. In that case, the limitation period of five years also applies to the statutory holiday hours. 

Multi-Year Savings Model

Taking holiday hours saved through the Multi-Year Savings Model

The basic principle is that the holiday hours accrued through The Multi-Year Savings Model may only be used within one year of the end of the savings period. However, the employee and supervisor may agree otherwise. Unused holiday hours expire five years after the last day of the calendar year in which the savings model began. Saved holiday hours must be used immediately prior to termination of employment. If this is not possible due to exceptional circumstances, these hours will be paid out.