Under Dutch employment law, employees are entitled to a statutory minimum of holidays of four times the weekly working hours (statutory minimum of 150 hours/20 holidays). The statutory number of holidays not taken in the year will accrue and can be taken to the next year and will lapse in case they are not taken within 6 months after the year in which the holidays were accrued, unless the employee was not reasonably able to take holidays (for example in the event of illness or high workload).
The holidays accrued above the statutory entitlement will lapse after a period of 5 years after the year in which the holidays were accrued. This means, for instance that holidays accrued in 2017 by the employee, but not been taken in 2017, can be taken in 2018, whereby the statutory holidays (of 150 hours/20 days) will lapse on 1 July, 2018 and the holidays above the statutory entitlement accrued in 2017 (30 hours/4 days) will lapse on 1 January, 2023.
The employer will have to take the statutory provision regarding the minimum holiday regulations into account. This implies that during holiday leave itself, the employee will still be entitled to payment of the full wage and the corresponding holiday entitlements. Dutch employment law also requires that holiday entitlements accrue in cases of (long-term) sickness of the employee.
Employees are entitled to a statutory holiday allowance of 8% of the actual paid salary in the holiday year which runs, in general, from 1 May until 30 April. In case the employee prematurely resigns, the holiday allowance over the year of resignation will be calculated and paid out pro rata.