When you are working with a contract, you know that, by law, you are entitled to a series of vacation days. However, there are times when you don't get to enjoy your vacation, either because the contract ends early or for other reasons. Do you know how to collect paid and unused vacations?
If you find yourself in this situation and you do not know if they have paid you or not, or you want to know how it is done, then we will give you the keys to everything.
What are paid and unused vacations?
First of all, you must bear in mind that vacations can never be replaced by money. In other words, you cannot work even on your vacation days and get paid in exchange for never resting. But in practice, the truth is that it can happen that a worker has the right to paid vacations but not taken.
According to the Spanish Constitution, and also the Workers' Statute, vacations are a legal right of workers and must be reflected in the employment contract.
In general, each worker has 30 calendar days of vacation to enjoy within the calendar year.
Thus, paid and unused vacations would be those that, even though they are the right of the worker, they have not been able to enjoy.
Situations in which there may be paid vacations but not taken
In practice, we can find times and workers who have not been able to enjoy those vacations, either because there has been an accumulation of work and they have not been taken, because there have been sick leaves and they have had to cover them... In these cases, the company cannot strip the worker of his vacation; they cannot be forced not to enjoy them, not even for financial compensation. What you can do is accumulate them for another year.
For example, if a worker has not enjoyed 20 days of vacation, for the following year he could take those 30 calendar days of vacation plus the 20 of the previous year that he could not enjoy.
Another situation that generates paid vacations that are not taken is when there is maternity or paternity leave. At those times there is a suspension of the contract and if this coincides with the vacation period, these can be enjoyed after returning to work, always in agreement with the company.
Related to the above would be sick leave due to temporary disability. If this coincides with vacations or the end of the year and the worker has not been able to enjoy these, he can do so when he returns to work. Now, it cannot have been more than 18 months since the end of the year for which he enjoys them.
Are distributed and unused vacations paid?
Although it is not normal, the truth is that there are two exceptions in which they are paid economically.
- When there is a termination of contract. In this case, a proration is made according to the days or months that have been worked (it will be within the settlement).
- For retirement. If you were previously in a work incapacity.
In these cases, the "compensation" is 2,5 calendar days per month worked.
How many days correspond
If you want to know how many days of paid vacation you have not taken, the first thing you need to know is how many days you have worked. Once you know how many days you have worked you must multiply it by 30 (which are vacation days) and then divide by 365.
On the other hand, you have to find out what the daily salary of that worker is. In this case, it is taking the monthly salary, with the apportionment of extra payments and supplements, and dividing it by 30. This is how the daily salary is obtained.
Finally, you only have to multiply the vacation days not taken by the daily salary and you will have the amount to be received.
Let's take an example. Imagine that a worker has been working for 200 days. He has a salary of 1000 euros.
Following the previous instructions, the first thing would be to take the vacations. This can be done with a rule of three:
If 360 days correspond to 30 vacation days.
200 days will correspond to x.
Therefore, it would be (200×30) / 360.
The total is 16.66, rounding up to 17 days.
Now you have to get the salary, which would be dividing 1000 by 30 days. Which makes a total of 33,33 euros per day.
If we multiply 17 by 33,33 we get 566,61 euros.
How to collect paid and unused vacations
Either because you have a contract and you are fired, or for other reasons, normally paid vacations that are not taken are always charged in the settlement.
This is a document by which the relationship between the worker and the employer is terminated. In it you not only find vacations, but also other assets that may be pending.
Now, keep in mind that we're talking about 30 days here, but many workers may not have worked a full year, so you always have to prorate, whether it's for part-time or full-time workers.
And in the case of part-time workers?
You may think that, if you are part-time, instead of 30 you should only have 15 days, but the truth is that this is not the case. Labor regulations do not distinguish between part-time and full-time, so 30 calendar days also apply.
Now, in the settlement, there may be a lower remuneration for your vacations because your daily salary is not the same as that of a full-time worker.
To calculate it, you have to follow the same steps that we have mentioned before.
Paid vacations not enjoyed in an ERTE
Taking into account that there are still many people who are in ERTE, what about their vacations?
Here it will depend on what type of ERTE you have.
- If it is one of suspension, the best known and used, it implies that your contract is suspended, and that means that there are no vacations.
- If it is a partial ERTE, then the vacations continue because the contract is not suspended, but the remuneration will be similar to that of part-time workers (because we are talking about an ERTE that suspends part of the work).
Is it clearer to you now how to collect paid and unused vacations?