Leave balances in the Netherlands: how to calculate

How many holiday days does an employee have?

By law, an employee in the Netherlands is entitled each year to four times the number of hours they work per week. At 40 hours a week that is 160 hours: 20 days of 8 hours. Someone who works 24 hours a week is entitled to 96 hours.

So keep the leave balance in hours, not days. Then it is also correct for part-timers and for people with varying working days.

• Built up: the statutory hours plus the extra hours from the contract or the collective labour agreement.
• Taken: approved holiday that has already passed.
• Balance: built up minus taken, split into statutory and extra, because they expire at different moments.

What are extra (non-statutory) holiday days?

Extra holiday days are the days on top of the statutory minimum. They are in the contract or in the collective labour agreement. If a company gives 25 days for a full working week of 40 hours, 20 are statutory and 5 are extra.

Keep the two types separate in the leave balance. They expire at different moments, and the collective labour agreement may have its own rules for extra days.

When do holiday days expire?

Statutory holiday days expire six months after the year in which they were built up. Days from 2026 therefore expire after 30 June 2027. That does not apply if the employee could not reasonably take them.

Extra days lapse after five years.

Let employees know in good time how many days they have left and when those expire, and give them a real opportunity to take time off. That prevents discussions about days that have expired.

Does someone build up holiday during sickness?

Yes. An employee also builds up holiday during sickness, just as when they are working. A sick employee therefore builds up no less, but also no more.

If a sick employee wants to go on holiday, you discuss it together. The holiday hours they take are simply deducted from their balance.

How do you handle a leave request?

An employee requests holiday and you assess the request. If you want to refuse a holiday request, you must do so in writing within two weeks, and only for compelling reasons, for example because the work really cannot continue in that period. If you do not respond within two weeks, the holiday is set as the employee requested.

• Check the balance: does the employee have enough hours?
• Check the schedule: who is already off in that period?
• Record your decision so the leave balance and the schedule are correct.

If an employee leaves, the holiday days they still have are paid out.

Example: 't Groene Hart, a horticultural business

At the horticultural business 't Groene Hart, Jan works 40 hours a week and Piet 32 hours. Under their contract they get 25 days for a full working week, so 5 extra days.

• Jan: statutory 4 × 40 = 160 hours, extra 5 × 8 = 40 hours, 200 hours a year in total.
• Piet: statutory 4 × 32 = 128 hours, extra pro rata 40 × 32/40 = 32 hours, 160 hours a year in total.

Jan asks for three weeks off during the busiest weeks of the harvest. The owner sees that too few people would be left, refuses two of the three weeks in writing within two weeks, giving the reason, and suggests taking those two weeks later in the summer. Piet asks for a week in June; there is room for that, so the request is approved.

How it works in Nexora

In Nexora, employees request leave in their own environment, My Nexora, or in the app. You approve or reject. Approved leave appears in the schedule straight away, and the leave balances are kept up to date automatically.

• For each employee you see the balance, the requests and what has already been taken.
• Hours worked and leave go through to the payroll run after a check.
• Nora flags missing follow-up steps and contract milestones.

You keep deciding on every request. Read more about HRM in Nexora.