Vacation bans: What bosses are really allowed to do and what employees need to know!

Vacation bans: What bosses are really allowed to do and what employees need to know!

Employers face the challenge of planning and rejecting vacation requests from their employees. This is currently influenced by the legal framework and social aspects. Like that Craft sheet writes, employers can only refuse vacation requests in specific cases. General vacation bans, even during the probationary period, are not permitted.

The legal reasons for refusing a vacation include urgent operational needs as well as the priority of other employees' vacation requests from a social perspective. Urgent operational reasons can arise, for example, due to staff shortages during seasons and campaigns or sudden production demands. Final work or the risk of goods spoiling can also lead to a holiday ban.

Weighing up social aspects

A key aspect for employers is to balance the interests of employees and employers. Social aspects that give priority to the vacation wishes of other employees include age, length of service, health status or the number of children. These aspects are particularly important when employees are competing for vacation time, such as between Christmas and New Year's CMS Blog emphasized.

The legal basis for taking vacation requests into account arises from Section 7 Paragraph 1 of the Federal Vacation Act (BurlG). This paragraph stipulates that the employer must take into account the requests of its employees, unless urgent operational matters or social considerations conflict with this. This can pose challenges, especially if the social factors have to be weighted ambiguously.

Practical solutions and regulations

In practice, companies often have to find creative solutions to avoid conflicts related to vacation entitlements. Suggestions include a rolling system for allocating vacation times or the possibility of splitting vacation into different periods. It is also advisable to create a clear holiday regulation that regulates the principles for the allocation of holiday and takes into account the co-determination rights of the works council in accordance with Section 87 Paragraph 1 No. 5 of the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG).

In summary, when planning vacations, employers must balance both operational needs and the social aspects of employees. This is the only way to create a harmonious working environment that takes the needs of everyone involved into account.