{"id":127,"date":"2026-10-02T06:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?post_type=ba_guide&#038;p=127"},"modified":"2026-10-02T06:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:46:23","slug":"holidays-and-leave-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"ba_guide","link":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?ba_guide=holidays-and-leave-netherlands","title":{"rendered":"Holidays and leave in the Netherlands: vakantiedagen and statutory leave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ba-lead wp-block-paragraph\">Dutch employees have statutory paid holiday entitlement, while a cao or employment contract can provide more. Do not confuse <em>vakantiedagen<\/em> (time off) with <em>vakantiegeld<\/em> (holiday allowance): they are separate rights.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Statutory holiday hours<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statutory annual entitlement is four times the number of hours you work per week. A 40-hour week therefore produces 160 statutory holiday hours. Part-time and zero-hours workers also build holiday entitlement; the calculation follows their working hours.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Statutory versus extra days<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many employers or CAOs provide bovenwettelijke (above-statutory) days in addition to the legal minimum. Expiry and carry-over rules can differ between statutory and extra days, so check which balance you are using.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Leave is broader than annual holiday<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dutch law also contains specific leave arrangements for situations such as pregnancy and maternity, partner leave, parental leave, care and emergencies. Eligibility, payment and duration differ. Your cao can improve on statutory arrangements.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Before booking a long trip<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"ba-checklist wp-block-list\"><li>Check your statutory and above-statutory balances separately.<\/li><li>Read the employer&#8217;s request procedure.<\/li><li>Check the cao for extra days or sector rules.<\/li><li>Do not assume unused days remain available indefinitely.<\/li><li>If a life event is involved, check whether a specific statutory leave type applies instead of using annual leave.<\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Understand Dutch holiday hours, extra contractual days and the difference between annual leave and other statutory leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","ba_country":[2],"ba_topic":[170,169,179,180],"ba_audience":[17],"ba_section":[24,20,21],"ba_stage":[28,30],"ba_location":[],"class_list":["post-127","ba_guide","type-ba_guide","status-publish","hentry","ba_country-netherlands","ba_topic-cao","ba_topic-employment-netherlands","ba_topic-holiday-pay","ba_topic-holiday-leave","ba_audience-residents","ba_section-life-events","ba_section-living","ba_section-work-business-section","ba_stage-getting-established","ba_stage-living-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/ba_guide"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/127\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ba_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_country&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"ba_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_topic&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"ba_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_audience&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"ba_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_section&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"ba_stage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_stage&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"ba_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_location&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}