Section 2 - Chapter 8
Vacation and leave

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8.1. Vacation hours

1. An Employee with full-time employment is entitled to 200 vacation hours per full Calendar Year worked with pay.

2. Employees who commenced employment prior to January 1, 2024, and had accrued an entitlement of more than 200 hours per full calendar year worked (for full-time employment), shall retain the number of days to which they were entitled on December 31, 2023.

3. The Employer shall take the Employee's wishes into account as much as possible when determining vacation hours. If the Employer's business interests so require, the Employer may refuse the Employee taking vacation hours and/or require the Employee to take vacation hours on a mandatory basis.

4. Section 3 sets forth further provisions by Employer.

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8.1.1. Accrual of vacation hours

5. If the Employee has been employed for less than one year or is a Part-Time Worker, the entitlement to vacation hours per Calendar Year shall be prorated.

6. Section 3 includes further provisions by the Employer.

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8.1.2. Incapacity for Work during vacation

If the Employee falls ill upon commencement or during vacation leave, the Employee must observe the applicable absenteeism regulation. The period of illness will in that case basically not be regarded as vacation, provided the illness has limited or interfered with the Employee's vacation enjoyment and the Employee has timely and properly reported the illness to the Employer and has otherwise complied with the absenteeism regulation.

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8.1.3. Change of vacation period

The Employer may postpone or revoke a vacation, with regard to which the effective time has already been determined or which has already commenced, only if justified for business purposes. In that case, the new time period for vacation shall be determined by mutual agreement between the Employee and the Employer.

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8.2. Leave general

Paid special leave as referred to in article 8.3 will be granted to an Employee if he is able to provide the required evidence to the Employer in a timely manner and meets the requirements for such special leave. Special leave can moreover only be granted if the Employee personally attends the events and/or the related situation and fulfills any required formalities. This leave cannot be granted at any other time.

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8.2.1. Maternity and childbirth leave

1. When pregnant and giving birth, the Employee is entitled to up to six weeks of Paid Maternity Leave and (at least) ten weeks of Paid Maternity Leave. This therefore totals to (at least) sixteen weeks of Paid Leave.

2. If the Employee wishes to take the maternity leave on a staggered basis or take Unpaid Leave after the expiration of a continuous maternity leave, the various options will be mutually agreed upon. Unpaid leave subsequent to maternity leave is limited to a maximum of four weeks.

3. If, during the period in which the Employee is entitled to maternity leave but has not yet commenced this leave, the Employee receives benefits due to illness under the BES Health Insurance Act, these sick days will be counted as days of maternity leave.

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8.2.2. Care leave (as of January 1, 2026)

1. As of January 1, 2026, the statutory regulation for care leave will apply.

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8.2.3. Emergency leave

1. (Valid until 31 December 2025) The Employer grants emergency leave for exceptional cases. This means that the Employee can immediately be given time off duty after permission if the Employee has to take immediate action at home or elsewhere due to an emergency.

2. From 1 January 2026, the statutory regulation on emergency leave will apply.

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8.3. Other Cases of Paid Leave

1. For the events listed below, the Employer grants the Employee Paid Special Leave on the day the event occurs or takes place as follows.

1. Baptism, First Holy Communion and Holy Confirmation of the Employee’s Child: the day on which the event occurs; 1 day

2. On the day the Employee gets married; 1 day

3. On the day of the Employee’s marriage: the day of the marriage and 2 days beforehand; 3 days

4. Death of parents or foster parents of the Employee and/or parent or foster parents of spouse or Relationship Partner and/or death of brother(s) or sister(s) of the Employee: the day of death and the day of burial; 2 days

5. Death of grandparents, uncles and aunts who may be considered blood relatives in the second and third degree of the Employee, spouse or Relationship Partner: the day of death or the day of the burial; 1 day

6. Childbirth of Spouse or Relationship Partner: the day of childbirth itself and the four days subsequently; 5 days

7. 12.5, 25, 35, 40-years’ employment anniversary: the day on which the employment anniversary is reached; 1 day

8. Exercising the right to vote: on the day of voting - between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. – up to 4 consecutive working hours, unless the Employee has four consecutive working hours off for other reasons during the hours when voting can be performed.

9. For relocation (maximum 1 time per 12 consecutive months) day of the relocation and the day after the relocation; 2 days

2. For the purposes of the above, Part-time Workers are basically entitled to leave in proportion to their Working Hours (hours).

3. Section 3 lists any additional days for each Employer to which leave applies.

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8.4. Requesting leave

a. Employees shall request leave as timely as possible.

b. Once leave has been granted, the relevance of care provision and/or the business interest may compel leave to commence at a date or time differing from the date or time provided for the leave.

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8.5. Other leave options

a. By mutual agreement and to a limited extent, paid leave may be granted for participation in committees or organizations with a social function, for example a complaints committee, a union or an organization dealing with preventive health care, for occasional activities that take place during working hours. Should the Employee receive a fee for the position he holds, the Employee will notify the Employer at the time of the leave request.

b. Also in cases other than those mentioned above, the Employer may, upon application by the Employee and consultation, grant the Employee Paid or Unpaid Leave.