Germany holiday entitlement calculator

By law you get 20 days of paid leave at a 5-day week, fewer pro rata if you work fewer days (4 days per weekly working day). If you join by 30 June, you get the full year’s leave after 6 months, even in your first year. If you leave after 30 June, you keep it too unless the contract validly cuts it pro rata. Untaken days are paid out when employment ends.
Leave empty if employed all year.
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Your holiday entitlement 2026
30 days
statutory minimum: 20 days
Still open30

    Leave days by working days per week

    Days per weekStatutory30-day contractTVöD from 2027
    6243637
    5203031
    4162425
    3121819
    281212
    1466

    The law guarantees 24 working days on a 6-day week. Any other schedule is converted: leave days times working days per week divided by 6, or divided by 5 for contract leave stated on a 5-day basis. Part time means fewer leave days but the same number of weeks off. If your working days change during the year, each period is calculated separately. Days already earned in full time are not cut when you move to part time, and are paid at the old rate.

    Joining during the year

    30 days contract leave, 5-day week, joining on the 1st of the month
    Joining inno clausepro rata clause
    February3028
    April3023
    June3020
    July1515
    September1010
    November55

    The full entitlement arises after a 6-month waiting period. If you start by 30 June you complete it in the same year and get the full year’s leave; many calculators wrongly pro rate this. If you start from 1 July you get one twelfth per full month of employment. If the contract or pay agreement pro rates the joining year, that applies, but never below the statutory minimum.

    Leaving: 30 June or 1 July

    If employment ends after the waiting period on or before 30 June, you get one twelfth per full month. If it ends on 1 July or later, you keep the full year’s leave, including extra contract days, unless the contract expressly says otherwise. Fractions of half a day or more are rounded up, smaller ones are kept as a fraction. Your last working day comes from the notice period calculator.

    Payout for untaken leave

    Leave you cannot take before the end is paid out. The daily rate is the pay of the last 13 weeks divided by the working days in those weeks: with a fixed salary, 3 monthly salaries divided by 13 times your working days per week. Example: at €3,500 a month and 5 days that is €161.54 a day, so 8 open days give €1,292.32 gross. The payout is taxed and subject to contributions like a one-off payment; the bonus tax calculator shows what is left.

    Frequently asked questions

    Does leftover leave lapse on 31 March?

    Only if the employer asked you in time to take it and warned that it would lapse. Without that warning the leave stays. During long illness it lapses 15 months after the end of the leave year at the latest.

    How much extra leave do severely disabled employees get?

    5 working days at a 5-day week, pro rata for fewer days. If the status does not cover the whole year, one twelfth per full month.

    Can the employer cut leave for parental leave?

    Yes, by one twelfth per full calendar month of parental leave if the employer declares it. If you work part time for the same employer during parental leave, the cut is not allowed.

    How much leave do young workers get?

    Under 16 at least 30, under 17 27 and under 18 25 working days on a 6-day basis, by age on 1 January. At a 5-day week that is 25, 22.5 and 20.83 days.

    Sources: Sections 3, 4, 5, 7 and 11 BUrlG, Section 208 SGB IX, Section 19 JArbSchG, Section 17 BEEG, Section 26 TVöD and TV-L, BAG 9 AZR 406/17, 9 AZR 179/15, 9 AZR 763/08, 9 AZR 200/17, 9 AZR 341/21, 9 AZR 51/16, 9 AZR 486/17, 9 AZR 165/23, 9 AZR 541/15. Not legal advice. Updated 2026-11-04.