Summer, sun, employment law – Five typical mistakes made by Belarusian employers when granting annual leave

published on June 17, 2019 | readingt time approx. 2 minutes

Summertime means vacation time. However, the Belarusian Employment Code provides numerous stumbling blocks for granting annual leave, some of which differ massively from corresponding regulations in other countries. In order to prevent them from compromising your well-earned vacation and that of your employees, you should avoid these five common mistakes.

Mistake 1: Split annual leave into three or more parts

The „classic“ among the employment law violations concerning the vacation of employees: The division of the annual leave into three or more parts within one working year.

 
However, such fragmentation of leave is not permitted, neither on the initiative of the employee nor of the employer and constitutes a breach of Belarusian employment law. The basic idea of this regulation is not only to empower the employee, but also to actively convince him to fully recover from work by avoiding work for as long as possible.

 
In principle, the employee's annual leave must be taken in one piece, but may, with the employee's consent, be divided into a maximum of two parts, one of which must be at least 14 calendar days.

 
A division of annual leave into more than two parts is exceptionally only possible if a valid collective agreement contains such a provision.

 
Mistake 2: Right to call back after leave has been granted

If it is urgently necessary to recall an employee from vacation, the employer must obtain the employee's consent to do so. If the employee refuses its consent, it is not threatened with any consequences under employment law. There are 3 options for the remaining leave days: Use of remaining leave days at a later point in the year, pay compensation or adding the remaining leave days to the annual leave for the following year.

  
Mistake 3: Payment for annual leave

Annual leave payments must be made before the start of the leave. The exact time depends on the type of employment contract concluded with the employee: If a so-called „Kontrakt“ (a type of fixed-term employment contract) has been concluded with the employee, the payment of the salary for the entire leave period applied for (so-called annual leave payment) must be made at least one day before the start of employee‘s vacation. In all other cases - no later than two days before the start of the vacation.

   
Mistake 4: Granting of leave in a part-time job

The vacation in the part-time job is linked to the activity in the main job. As a rule, employees only receive the full annual leave entitlement after the first six months of employment. The situation is different if the employee has worked less than six months in a part-time job, but applies for leave for its main job or receives leave from its main employer. In this case, it must also be granted leave from the secondary employer during the same period. As proof, the main employer's leave order must be submitted to the secondary employer.

Mistake 5: Leave not taken at the time of employment termination

While unused vacation days in Germany can expire, these add up according to Belarusian law without statute of limitations. This can lead to unpleasant surprises for employers, especially if an employee is dismissed, as compensation must be paid for unused vacation days upon termination of employment. Due care should therefore be taken to ensure that employees actually take their annual leave entitlement.

If you observe the above points, nothing should stand in the way of a relaxed vacation. If you have any further questions on this subject, the experts from our Employment and Migration Law Practice will be happy to assist you. We wish you relaxing summer holidays.