Under the Federal Vacation Act, employees are entitled to paid vacation leave. This also applies to those in mini-jobs, regardless of whether they work in the commercial sector or in a private household. The statutory minimum vacation entitlement is 24 working days per year. The law is based on a 6-day workweek. Working days are all calendar days that are not Sundays or statutory holidays.
Calculating Vacation Entitlement for a Mini-Job: The number of days worked per week is the key factor in calculating vacation entitlement. The number of hours a minijobber works on a given workday is irrelevant. If a person in a mini-job works fewer than six days per week, the vacation entitlement is calculated as follows: Individual workdays per week × 24 ÷ 6 = vacation days per year. Depending on the number of workdays per week, the vacation entitlement is as follows:
Workdays per week: 1; Annual vacation entitlement: 4
Workdays per week: 2; Annual vacation entitlement: 8
Workdays per week: 3; Annual vacation entitlement: 12
Workdays per week: 4; Annual vacation entitlement: 16
Workdays per week: 5; Annual vacation entitlement: 20
Workdays per week: 6; Annual vacation entitlement: 24
Vacation days are paid days off. You do not have to make up for them by working extra hours before or after.
Minijob workers do not work the same number of hours every week. For example, an employment contract may stipulate that an employee works two days one week and three days the next. In the case of irregular work, vacation entitlement is not calculated based on the number of workdays per week. The decisive factor is then the number of days the part-time worker works in the calendar year. The number of days other employees work for the same employer is also taken into account. If the company has a five-day workweek, 260 workdays per year are used as the basis. For a six-day workweek, the basis is 312 workdays per year.
The statutory minimum vacation time is then calculated using this formula: Statutory vacation days per year × individual workdays per year: 260 or 312
If the calculation results in a fraction of at least half a day of vacation, it is rounded up to a full day of vacation.
Practical example:
A part-time worker holds a part-time job for 90 days a year. Other employees work for their employer five days a week. The statutory minimum vacation entitlement for a five-day workweek is 20 vacation days per year.
Calculation: 20 vacation days × 90 workdays ÷ 260 = 6.92 vacation days
Result: The fraction is more than half a vacation day. Therefore, it is rounded up. The person with a mini-job is entitled to 7 paid vacation days per year.
Note on Night Work: For night work, the same principles apply to vacation time as for day work. If a work shift extends into the next calendar day, that shift counts as one workday. For example, if a shift begins on Monday evening and ends on Tuesday morning, it counts as one vacation day. The statutory minimum vacation time is the lower limit. A higher vacation entitlement may result, for example, from an employment contract or a collective bargaining agreement. If full-time employees at the same employer are entitled to more vacation, this also applies to those in mini-jobs. The higher vacation entitlement is then converted to the number of individual workdays in the mini-job. The formula is: Number of workdays per week × collective bargaining vacation days per year ÷ collective bargaining workdays per week
Practical example:
A person with a mini-job works three days a week. Full-time employees at the same employer work five days a week and are entitled to 30 days of vacation per year. Working hours and vacation time are specified in the employment contract or collective bargaining agreement.
Calculation: 3 workdays per week × 30 vacation days per year under the collective bargaining agreement ÷ 5 workdays per week under the collective bargaining agreement = 18 vacation days
Result: A person with a mini-job is entitled to 18 days of paid vacation per year.