Holiday entitlement (Construction)

The Holiday entitlement in the construction industry refers to the collectively agreed entitlement of manual workers to paid annual leave within the holiday procedure of the construction industry. According to the BRTV, this is generally Holiday entitlement 30 working days per calendar year.

How is the Holiday entitlement regulated in construction?

The essential collective agreement provisions on holiday entitlement for manual workers are contained in the BRTV.

After that, there is generally a right to 30 working days of paid annual leave per calendar year. Saturdays are not considered working days. For severely disabled employees, the collective agreement percentage Holiday entitlement increases in accordance with the relevant regulations.

How does Holiday entitlement arise in the construction industry?

A special feature of the construction industry is that the length of holiday depends on the number of days worked in construction companies.

Commercial employees generally earn one day of holiday for every twelve days of employment. The Holiday entitlement thus links to employment in the construction industry and not exclusively to the duration with a single employer.

What happens when you change employers?

If a manual worker transfers between businesses that participate in the construction industry's leave procedure, existing leave entitlements can generally be carried over within the sector.

The industry-specific leave procedure is thus intended to prevent previously acquired holiday entitlements from being lost solely due to a change of employer within the construction industry.

What role do SOKA-BAU and ULAK play?

SOKA-BAU manages the holiday entitlements of the registered blue-collar workers in the holiday procedure. For each worker, the relevant holiday entitlements are maintained in the procedure.

The ULAK is the Holiday pay fund within SOKA-BAU and takes over tasks of the collective holiday procedure.

Holiday entitlement and holiday pay - what is the difference?

The Holiday entitlement is fundamentally based on paid leave from work. A payout in lieu of holiday is therefore not normally the case.

If accrued leave can no longer be taken due to statutory or collective bargaining requirements, financial compensation can be sought against this by way of an Holiday pay to be considered. Special collective wage agreements apply to the construction industry in this regard.

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