[Czech Republic] Calculation of holiday entitlement – Part 1

Although there was a major change over 3 years ago (in 2021) in the way holiday entitlement is calculated, it is still quite a challenge for many of us to calculate our holiday entitlement. In this article we will take a look at how such entitlement is calculated.

The starting point for calculating holiday entitlement is the holiday entitlement in weeks. The employer should set the base rate in weeks, not days, hours or other units. This rate will be the same for everyone and the total holiday entitlement will be reduced against unworked hours or part-time hours.

Basic requirements for determining holiday entitlement:

• we have to know the holiday entitlement in weeks
• we need to know the employee’s weekly working time; if the working time changes during the year, we need to calculate the average weekly working time, which we then work with in the calculations
• holiday is always calculated for the calendar year; all other values on which holiday entitlement is calculated are also considered throughout the year
• we round down only the multiples of working weeks to the nearest whole number, the annual holiday entitlement in hours (up) and the total holiday entitlement in hours (up), always to the nearest whole hour; we do not round the other calculations

For the calculation of holiday entitlement, we have to know the worked hours for the year. As a very simplified example, we will show the basic principle of calculating holiday entitlement.  

Example 1: An employee has a basic holiday entitlement 5 weeks. In the year 2024 he worked 2096 hours. His working hours per week are 40 hours.

1. Calculate the annual holiday entitlement by taking the weekly hours and multiplying it by the weekly holiday entitlement: 40*5=200 hours.
2. Determine the number of multiples of weekly hours by dividing the total number of working hours by the weekly hours: 2096/40=52,4.
3. Round down the weekly multiplier to the nearest whole number: 52.
4. Divide the multiple of weeks by 52 (this is a fixed constant which will always be the same) and then multiply the result by the annual holiday entitlement: (52/52)*200=200 hours.

In this case, the calculation is simple because the employee worked for the whole year, so he/she will get the full holiday entitlement.

Now, with example 2, let’s look at how it would look if the employee started working on 1 July 2024 and worked all the scheduled shifts by the end of the year. The rest of the assignment stays without any change.

Example 2: The employee has a basic holiday entitlement 5 weeks. In 2024 he worked 1056 hours. His working hours per week are 40 hours.

1. Calculate the annual holiday entitlement: 40*5=200 hours.
2. Find the number of times the weekly working hours: 1056/40=26,4.
3. Round the multiplier down to the nearest whole number: 26.
4. Divide the multiple of weeks by 52 and then multiply the result by the annual leave entitlement: (26/52)*200=100 hours.

The basic principle should be clear now. Let’s go then into more detail.

One of the important things is determining what counts as working time for holiday purposes and what is not counted. The actual working time without overtimes is counted as working time for holiday purposes.. However, please note that if someone is working part-time and works some hours over and above his or her scheduled hours but less than he or she would have worked full-time, that hours are not considered overtime and such hours, unlike overtime, are counted as time worked for holiday purposes.

Also, some selected absences are counted as working time. These include, for example, all obstacles at work on the employer’s side, maternity leave, obstacles according to Section § 199 (2) of the Labour Code (e.g. doctor’s visit, wedding, funeral, etc.) or work accidents and occupational diseases. These selected absences, which are not fully listed here, are counted as part of the working time without limitation.

However, there are also absences that only count as working time under certain conditions and only up to a given limit. Let’s call them ” limit absences”. These absences include:

• illness other than an accident at work or an occupational disease,
• quarantine,
• parental leave,
• other important personal obstacles on the part of the employee, unless they are obstacles pursuant to Section § 199(2) of the Labour Code, because, as we have said above, they are always included in the working time without limitation.

Limit absences are counted as working time only if the employee has otherwise worked at least 12 times his/her weekly working hours in a given year, with both actual hours worked and absences counting as working time at all times and without limitation. At the same time, no more than 20 times the weekly working hours may be counted as the total working hours from these limit absences. Hours from limit absences which are in excess of 20 times the weekly working hours are no longer counted as the working time and therefore do not increase the resulting holiday entitlement.

Example 3: An employee has a basic holiday entitlement for 5 weeks. In 2024, he actually worked 461 hours, plus 16 hours missed due to an accident at work. 1619 hours missed due to parental leave. His weekly working time is 40 hours.

1. Calculate the number of actual working hours plus the hours of absenteeism, which always count as the working hours without limit: 461+16=477 hours.
2. Find out how many multiples of the weekly working hours were completed: 477/40=11.925, which means that the employee did not work at least 12 times the weekly working hours, and so no hours from the limiting absences (1619) when the employee took parental leave can be counted as the working hours.

Employee’s entitlement to holiday will therefore be:

• 477/40=11,925

• (11/52)*200=42,3

• Rounded up: 43 hours of holiday.

In the next article, we will look at how to deal with employees who change their working week during the year and how to calculate holiday for employees who take holiday between maternity and parental leave.