Holiday administration

DTU gives high priority to its employees taking holidays—for their own sake, and to help DTU to better manage its finances. Notification of holidays is therefore given in accordance with DTU’s holiday guidelines.

Notification of main holiday and remaining holiday

Holidays require planning, prioritization, and managerial follow-up. Corporate HR provides help and support to the department’s management in its holiday administration.

The holiday year starts on September 1. In early October, Corporate HR sends out a notification of holiday email to all employees to give notification of the main holiday for the coming summer as well as of remaining holiday, which must be taken by 31 December at the latest.

Notification is given that the main holiday is to be taken between mid-June and mid-August, in line with DTU’s guidelines for holidays and special days of holiday.

It is up to each department to decide how to give notification of main holiday, as long as the department’s management ensures that there are no remaining days of holiday at the end of the holiday year.

Notification of the main holiday must be given at three months’ notice in accordance with the Danish Holiday Act (Ferieloven). Notification of the remaining holiday must be given at one month’s notice in accordance with the Danish Holiday Act.

The email also contains notification of holiday closure at DTU on the Friday following Ascension Day and the working days between Christmas and New Year.

As the holiday year is 12 months and the holiday entitlement period is 16 months, with a lag during the months of September-December, the holiday for which notification has been given and which is taken in connection with DTU’s days of closure between Christmas and New Year can either be holiday accrued in the period September-November or be remaining holiday accrued in the recently concluded holiday year, which must be taken before 31 December.

Follow-up

A transfer of days of holiday can only be agreed for days of holiday in excess of 20 days. I.e. all other holiday MUST be taken before the end of the holiday entitlement period on 31 December. The individual manager must therefore keep continuously up to date via Fusion reports on the employees’ number of days of holiday, to ensure that all days of holiday can be taken before 31 December.

Reminder of main holiday, notification of main holiday for new employees and notification of special days of holiday

In early/mid January, Corporate HR sends out an email to all employees regarding notification of untaken special days of holiday and a reminder regarding main holiday.

Notification of special days of holiday may be given at the earliest from 1 January. Notification of special days of holiday must be given at one month’s notice, and the special days of holiday must be taken before the end of April.

Notification of the main holiday was given in October. According to DTU’s holiday guidelines, the employee may, by agreement, change his or her scheduled main holiday until mid-March. In the email, Corporate HR will remind everyone that all main holiday must be planned by mid-March. In addition, Corporate HR will supplement the communication with a notification email that can be sent to all employees who have taken up their positions with DTU on or after 1 October in the holiday year and have thus been notified in connection with the notification in September. Notification of main holiday must be given at three months’ notice. DTU may only give notification of holiday that has been accrued at the time at which it is taken.

Holiday notification requirements

A holiday notification must be written and individual. An email received in the addressee’s inbox is regarded as written and individual notification.

Each individual employee must also be able to be informed about his or her remaining holiday entitlement. 

Institutes and administrative units may generate holiday reports for their own employees via DTU Fusion.  

Follow-up and registration of holiday taken

In addition to notifying employees that holidays must be taken during a specified period, the management must follow up on whether each employee has taken his or her holiday and registered this in DTU Fusion.

The employer must be able to document to the Danish Labour Market Holiday Fund (Arbejdsmarkedets Feriefond) that the holiday has been taken, and it is therefore very important that the holiday taken is registered in DTU Fusion. Any days of holiday that remain in DTU Fusion, whether they have been taken or not, must be settled with the Danish Labour Market Holiday Fund every year. This applies to accrued holiday of up to 20 days of holiday. If an employee has experienced a holiday obstacle and has therefore not taken his or her holiday, other rules apply. You can read more about this in the section Transfer of days of holiday in connection with a holiday obstacle.

The cost of this settlement for days of holiday with the Danish Labour Market Holiday Fund must be borne by the department.

Transfer of days of holiday

As stated in the approved guidelines for holidays, special days of holiday and days off, all employees are expected to take all their accrued holidays and special days of holiday, and days of holiday may thus only be transferred in exceptional circumstances.

If an employee feels unable to take all his or her holiday due to work commitments and any relevant project deadlines, and the employee’s immediate manager agrees, it may, as an exception, be agreed to transfer a maximum of five days of holiday.

Requests for transfer must be made via DTU Fusion, specifying the number of days to be transferred, the reason for transfer, and the planned period in which the transferred days will be taken in the following holiday year.

When agreements are made to transfer a fifth week of holiday and/or special days of holiday for use at a later time, the institute may incur additional costs if the employee leaves their position before the days are taken.

Transfer of days of holiday in connection with a holiday obstacle

Special rules apply to the transfer of holiday for those employees who have experienced a holiday obstacle during the holiday year, such as maternity or paternity leave, other leave or long-term illness, and the holiday obstacle still persists on 31 December when the holiday entitlement period ends. In this situation, holiday of up to four weeks (20 days) will be transferred automatically to the next holiday entitlement period. Holiday in excess of four weeks (more than 20 days) may be transferred by agreement to the next holiday entitlement period or be disbursed. Agreements regarding a fifth week of holiday are made by the employee in DTU Fusion, then automatically sent for managerial approval and subsequently to Corporate HR.

Please note that transferred holiday must be taken in the subsequent holiday entitlement period. Employees who have had four weeks of holiday transferred due to a holiday obstacle must therefore take minimum eight weeks of holiday during the next holiday entitlement period. 

Expiry of remaining holiday and untaken special days of holiday

If correct notification has been given for untaken days of holiday and a transfer has not been agreed, the remaining holiday will lapse as at 31 December.

This also applies to special days of holiday, the only difference being that they will lapse on 30 April.

Annual holiday cycle

It is recommended that administration of holidays and special days of holiday be undertaken by managers in the department or another relevant employee, who will continually keep up to date on which employees have not have taken their main holiday before September, their remaining holiday before 31 December and their five special days of holiday before 30 April.

It is important that the department’s management obtains an overview every September of which employees have not taken their holiday in the holiday year that has ended on 31 August and reacts to this by planning their taking of holiday before the expiry of the holiday entitlement period on 31 December of that year.

It is similarly important that the management obtains an overview each January of which employees have untaken special days of holiday which must have been taken before 30 April. The annual holiday cycle and these guidelines can be helpful in managing this administration.