This is how rest days are calculated

The workplace is regulated by a series of laws and regulations that put in black and white the bases of the employment relationship between companies and workers. He Workers Statute It is the place that answers many of the questions that, at one time or another arise to the workers. Knowing how many vacation days you are entitled to by law is one of the most common.

He calculation of vacation days It varies from one company to another depending on the sector, whether there is a collective agreement that regulates it, the type of working day and even seniority in the company. To clear up any doubts, we will tell you how many days of work rest you are entitled to by law and how to calculate them.

How many vacations correspond per month worked: what the law says

He article 38 of the Workers’ Statute is in charge of drawing the master lines for the right to rest. This article establishes the right to a minimum period of 30 calendar days of paid annual leave, not replaceable by financial compensationexcept as provided in the agreement or end of the employment relationship.

That is, all workers have the right to rest for a minimum of 30 calendar days included in their salary. These days, under no circumstances, can be compensated for additional remuneration and can only be compensated for other days of rest on a different date.

This is the legal minimum per calendar year of work and each year generates its own paid holiday entitlement. The Workers’ Statute establishes that they must be enjoyed in an agreed manner within the corresponding annual period, except for agreed or justified exceptions.

In addition to agree jointly between the company and employees, workers have the right to know the vacation dates that correspond to them, at least two months before the start date of the rest. This way the employee can plan your vacation.

How vacation days are calculated

The Workers’ Statute clearly establishes that workers They have 30 working days a year. But how are your vacation days calculated if you have only been working at that company for a few months?

The most commonly used practical rule to obtain the proportional part when the entire year has not been worked is to start from 30 calendar days and prorate them by months worked. Don’t panic because they exist vacation day calculators. In any case, its calculation is not complicated.

The usual thing in companies is to use the value of calendar days, so it is enough to divide the number of calendar days by the twelve months of the year and multiply it by the months worked. The result returns the number of calendar days of work rest.

On the other hand, if they are specified as working days, the calculation must be made by replacing the 30 days indicated in the Workers’ Statute with 22 working days.

Difference between business days and calendar days

The difference between a working day or a calendar day is important for the calculation and choice of vacation days.

• Calendar days: all calendar days are taken into account, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. That is, when calculating vacation days, all days of the chosen period are taken into account. This makes it more favorable for the worker to start the vacation on a Monday and end it on a Friday, since in this way neither the previous nor the following weekend are counted as vacations.
• Working days: as their name indicates, they are those days on which you would usually work, these being usually Monday to Friday, excluding weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and national holidays. This makes it irrelevant whether the first day of vacation is a Monday or Wednesday, since any weekends or holidays in between will not be counted.
  Besides, at a legal levelthere is a subtle difference between business days and business days. In both cases, Sundays and holidays are excluded, but in some cases, Saturdays may be considered working days, but are not considered business days.

Is it 22 or 23 business days?

As we have pointed out, the Workers’ Statute only establishes a legal minimum of 30 calendar days of work rest, but does not specify its equivalent in working days.

If the company uses the workdays metric instead of calendar days, the calculation of the number of vacation days per month will also change. The most common conversion is to 22 working days, that is, days in which you would usually have to work. But It is not a universal figure for all companiesbut an average that can change from one company to another.

The collective bargaining of some industrial sectors or the collective agreements of each company can include improvements to these conditions by increasing the number of vacation days and increasing those 22 working days to 23 days or even more.

Therefore, it will be necessary to consult with the company or review the collective agreement that applies to know if the scale of calendar or working days is used to calculate vacation days.

A practical example

Nothing better to understand How does the calculation of vacation days work? We have to see it with a practical example. Imagine that you have started working in a company on March 1 and you want to take a few days of vacation the first week of September. How many days of vacation would you get?

In that case, and taking into account the formula that we have indicated before, the calendar days of vacation would be calculated as follows:

• 30 (calendar days by law) / 12 (months) = 2.5 days of vacation per month worked
• 2.5 calendar days of vacation generated per month x 6 months of work = 15 calendar days of vacation

If we apply the metric of working days, and assuming that the agreement (or the company) establishes that there are 22 working days, we would have:

• 22 (working days) / 12 (months) = 1.83 working days per month worked
• 1.83 vacation work days generated per month x 6 months of work = 11 vacation work days

Continuing with the example, when requesting vacations and making the most of rest days, in the first example in which calendar days are used, we choose from September 5 to September 19. That includes two weekends, making a total of 15 calendar days.

The same result would be obtained by choosing September 8 as the first day and the 22nd as the last day of vacation. In both cases, two weekends are consumed. However, if you working day is Monday to Fridayyou will not have to work the weekend of September 20 and 21, so you earn two additional days of rest that do not count as vacations.

On the other hand, for the weekday example, weekends and holidays are left out of the equation, so the only thing that counts are the 11 days chosen from Monday to Friday. As you can see in the graphic example, in both cases the same number of days of work rest is obtained, the only thing that changes is the way of counting them, taking into account or not taking into account holidays and weekends.

How many half-day vacations do I have?

The Workers’ Statute does not establish differences between full-time or part-time. That is, both generate the same number of days of rest. That is, you are entitled to the minimum of 30 calendar days of vacation established by the regulations, regardless of the type of day you have.

However, what does make a difference is in the remuneration for those vacation days, which will be proportional to the hours or the usual salary of the contract, not as a full day.

Collective agreements

The collective agreements They are the framework in which companies (or entire business sectors) establish agreements in which minimum conditions are improved included in the Workers’ Statute.

This negotiation framework prevails over the minimum regulations, as recognized in article 38.2 of the Statute, vacations will be “set by mutual agreement between the employer and the worker, in accordance with what is established, where appropriate, in the collective agreements on annual vacation planning.”

That is, although the general regulations say that each worker is entitled to 30 calendar days, if the collective agreement says a higher figure or a certain amount is indicated in working days, What prevails is what was agreed in that agreement above the minimums established by law. For this reason, it is so important to know the content of the collective agreement by which your company is governed.

There are also agreements that detail whether part of the vacation is paid in advance in “bags of days” or additional days as a bonus and the regulations regarding digital disconnection between the company and workers who are on vacation or outside your working hours.

Vacation compensation

As we have already mentioned, the law is very clear regarding vacation bonuses. The general rule is that vacations are not replaceable for financial compensation while the employment relationship continues, so they must be enjoyed at some point during the year.

This rule applies even to those vacation days not taken due to medical leave or because they should have been taken during a period of time. maternity or paternity leave.

In that case, the regulations and jurisprudence They allow those vacations to be postponed as long as they do not exceed 18 months after the calendar year in which those vacations are generated. While workers are in a situation on medical leave or administrative permits are not in an active situation, which prevents employees from effectively enjoying their breaks.

The only case in which a company must financially compensate for vacations not taken is when the employment relationship ends and the settlement is calculated, including the payment of vacations generated and not taken.

Likewise, and such as indicated In the Labor Guide of the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, when the minimum legal vacations cannot be enjoyed, because the period of activity in the company does not coincide with the enjoyment of vacations, workers will receive, along with their salary, the proportional part corresponding to the vacations.

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Image | Nano Banana, Unsplash (Towfiqu barbhuiya)