Sickness and annual leave. How does it work again in hospitality?

Before 1 January 2012, you only accrued annual leave during the last six months of a sickness period. Were you long-term sick and dismissed? Then you only received annual leave pay for the last six months of your illness. Not entirely fair, of course! This was, according to the European Court of Justice, in violation of the European 'Working Time Directive'.


Following this ruling, the legislation was amended as of 1 January 2012. This means that employees now accrue annual leave over the entire period they are sick. In the accrual of annual leave, no distinction is made between healthy and sick employees.

Annual leave
According to the law, as an employee with a full-time contract, you are entitled to 20 days of annual leave per year. Do you work part-time? Then you are entitled to annual leave in proportion to the number of hours you work.

In a CLA, additional statutory annual leave days are often included. Are you covered by the hospitality, catering, or recreation CLA? Then with a full-time contract, you have 25 days of annual leave. These consist of:
• 20 statutory days
• 5 additional statutory days

Statutory annual leave cannot be paid out. Additional statutory days can, by agreement, potentially be paid out.

Adjustment to annual leave legislation
In 2012, there were several adjustments to the annual leave legislation. Have you not taken your statutory annual leave within six months after accruing it? Then they expire. The statutory annual leave you accrued before 1 January 2012 remains valid for five years. For the additional statutory annual leave, these always remain valid for five years.

If you have any questions about this blog, please contact the Information and Advice Centre.

Information and Advice Centre
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info@fnvhorecabond.nl