Long live the holidays! But how many days?

Long live the holidays! But how many days?

"I'd like to ask you for some general information about holidays and how they should be taken and calculated. I work every second Saturday and get one day off in the same week in compensation. How should I count my holidays: once for six days and once for five days, or every week for 5 days?

Marc, Geneva

Holidays are defined as a period of paid leave intended to allow employees to rest from the strain of their professional activities. Under article 329a of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), the employer must grant the employee at least four weeks' holiday per year of service (at least five weeks for employees up to the age of 20). This provision is relatively mandatory, which means that any agreement setting a lower entitlement than this mandatory minimum is absolutely null and void. On the other hand, the parties may agree to a longer holiday entitlement. Holiday entitlement is fixed in proportion to the length of the employment relationship where the year of service is less than a full year.

As long as the employment relationship lasts, Article 329d of the Swiss Code of Obligations stipulates that, in principle, holidays may not be replaced by cash benefits or other advantages. However, if the contractual relationship comes to an end and the employee has not exhausted his or her holiday entitlement, he or she may demand that the employer pay him or her compensation for the balance of holiday not taken during the employment relationship.

The unit for calculating holiday entitlement depends on each employee's normal working hours and varies according to the number of days worked in an ordinary week. It is therefore sometimes useful to convert the minimum number of weeks per year into a minimum number of holiday days per year, taking into account the number of days worked per week by the employee. For example, if you work 5 days a week and are entitled to 4 weeks' holiday, you are actually entitled to 20 days' holiday a year. On the other hand, if you work 6 days a week, you are entitled to 24 days' holiday a year.

In your situation, you work every other Saturday and when you work on a Saturday, you have a day off in compensation during the week. This means that, in reality, you always work five days a week. As a result, you are entitled to at least 20 days' holiday a year, to be agreed if possible with your employer, who must allow you to take at least two consecutive weeks, in accordance with article 329c of the Swiss Code of Obligations.

In this tropical heat, we wish you a radiant summer and look forward to seeing you from 21 August. Have a great holiday!