Statutory leave: hours or days?
Updated
by
Chris Storms
HR Selfservice itself does not calculate the number of days' statutory leave to which an employee is entitled.
The general rule is that an employee is entitled to four weeks' statutory leave according to the current work schedule. For example, a work schedule of five days or 40 hours per week entitles you to 20 days or 160 hours of statutory leave.
However, there are a few important observations when granting statutory leave.
Do I give a counter in hours or days?
The rule of thumb here is the following:
- With a regular work schedule, you can choose between a counter in days or in hours.
- For an irregular work schedule (typically part-time), you use a counter in hours.
What is a "regular" work schedule?
This is a work schedule in which the same number of hours are worked on each working day or in which a half-day's leave is equal to half the number of hours in a full working day.
Below are a few examples of regular work schedules:
Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Statutory leave |
8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 20 days |
8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | - | 16 days |
8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 18 days |
8 hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 16 days |
4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 10 days (20 half-days) |
8 hours | 8 hours | - | 4 hours | - | 10 days (8 full and 4 half-days) |
What is an "irregular" work schedule?
This is a work schedule in which the number of hours worked on the various working days differ (significantly).
Below are a few examples of irregular work schedules:
Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Statutory leave |
6 hours | - | 7 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours | 80 hours |
8 hours | 3 hours | 8 hours | - | 5 hours | 96 hours |
If leave is granted in days in such situations, you will have to ensure that the leave days taken are evenly distributed according to the work schedule. Of course, this is not a practical working method. Without this being monitored, an employee can always request leave for long working days and therefore take too much leave when counted in hours.
In this situation, therefore, it is better to work with a counter in hours. In the case of a request for leave, for example, this counter is then reduced by the actual number of hours on that working day.
Differences between Payroll and HR Selfservice
In Payroll, you can find an employee's holiday entitlement in the counters under the Detail calendar. This counter can also be made available in days or hours.
When consulting the counter in days, please keep in mind that Payroll does not know the concept of half-days. Half-days are counted as whole days (regardless of whether 4 hours' or 8 hours' leave was taken, for example). You cannot simply use the counters in days from Payroll in HR Selfservice.
When you count in hours, these are the same as the counters in hours in Payroll.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your payroll officer.
Some examples are as follows:
Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | HR Selfservice | Payroll |
8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 20 days/160 hours | 20 days/160 hours |
8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | - | 16 days/128 hours | 16 days/128 hours |
8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 18 days/144 hours (16 full and 4 half-days) | 20 days/144 hours |
8 hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 16 days/128 hours (12 full and 8 half-days) | 20 days/128 hours |
4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | 10 days/80 hours (20 half-days) | 20 days/80 hours |