Annual leave in Finland is accrued during a designated credit year. How many days you receive depends on the length of your employment and the hours or days you work each calendar month. The rules governing leave, pay calculations, and seasonal blocks are set by Finnish legislation and collective agreements.
How holiday accrues
Holiday accrues over a holiday credit year (lomanmääräytymisvuosi, the qualifying year for leave) running from 1 April to 31 March.
Your rate of accrual depends directly on how long your job has lasted by the close of that cycle:
- If your employment has lasted less than a year on 31 March, you accrue 2 days of holiday for each full holiday credit month.
- If your employment has lasted at least a year by 31 March, you accrue 2.5 days for each full month.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, someone who starts on 1 April or the first working day of April accrues two and a half days a month already in the first employment year.
When accrual calculations result in fractions, half days of holiday are always rounded up. A collective agreement (työehtosopimus) may give more holiday than the Annual Holidays Act (vuosilomalaki). Back-to-back fixed-term contracts, or ones with only brief breaks, count as continuous employment for holiday purposes. Check your base terms alongside standard employment rights in Finland when reviewing your initial contract.
The 14-day and 35-hour rule, and part-timers
To earn holiday for a specific calendar month, you must cross an activity threshold. Finnish law establishes two separate mechanisms to determine what counts as a full credit month:
- The 14-day rule: Under the 14-day rule, people contracted to work at least 14 days a month earn holiday for each calendar month with at least 14 days at work or equivalent.
- The 35-hour rule: The 35-hour rule applies to those contracted for fewer than 14 days a month; they earn holiday for each month with at least 35 hours at work or equivalent.
Certain absences are legally treated as working time for these counts. Absence for pregnancy, parental and certain family leave counts as time at work for holiday accrual up to 156 days (about 6 months).
A part-timer working less than 14 days or 35 hours in a month accrues no annual holiday but is entitled to free time and holiday compensation. Such a part-timer is entitled to two weekdays of unpaid free time for each month of employment, even months with no hours worked. Holiday compensation for that free time is paid with the free time or at the latest when the holiday season ends on 30 September.
Weekdays, not working days
Annual leave in Finland is counted in weekdays (arkipäivä). Only weekdays count as holiday days, and the Act defines weekdays as Monday to Saturday.
Sundays, church holidays, Independence Day, Christmas Eve, Midsummer Eve, Easter Saturday and May Day are not counted. Some collective agreements count only Monday to Friday as holiday days. You can learn more about starting work in your first steps after moving to Finland.
Summer holiday and winter holiday
The statutory holiday season (lomakausi) is 2 May to 30 September. Accrued leave is split into two distinct seasonal portions:
- Summer holiday (kesäloma): A 24-day block of annual holiday must be granted within the holiday season.
- Winter holiday (talviloma): The rest must be granted by the start of the next holiday season, between 1 October and 30 April.
Summer and winter holiday are each granted as one uninterrupted period. If splitting is essential for continuity of work, at least 12 holiday days must still be given in one stretch; the rest may be split, or split by agreement. Read more about workplace practices and Finnish business culture.
The employer must hear the employee's wishes and take them into account as far as possible, but ultimately decides when the holiday is taken. The employer must announce the holiday at least one month before it starts, or at least two weeks before if a month is not possible. Being laid off does not change the right to take annual leave.
Holiday pay, the percentage method and the holiday bonus
During annual holiday the employee must be paid at least their regular or average pay (holiday pay, or lomapalkka). Where holiday pay is calculated as a percentage (for example many hourly-paid workers), official guidance on holiday pay and holiday compensation sets the statutory rates:
- It is 9% of wages if the employment had lasted less than a year by the end of the previous credit year.
- It is 11.5% if the employment had lasted at least one year.
Holiday pay must be paid before the holiday starts; for a holiday of six days or less it can follow the normal pay cycle. The employer must give a holiday payslip showing the holiday pay or compensation and how it was calculated. Unpaid holiday pay or compensation must be claimed within two years of the end of the calendar year it fell due.
There is also a separate payment known as the holiday bonus (lomaraha). The holiday bonus is not based on the Annual Holidays Act but agreed in collective agreements, for example 50% of holiday pay, usually paid with the summer holiday.
Carrying over, falling ill and leaving the job
By agreement some holiday can be postponed or saved, but at least 18 days must be taken in the relevant holiday season. Someone who takes 24 days in the season may save the remaining days for later years if it does not unduly disrupt work; this is called carried-over holiday (säästövapaa).
Specific statutory protections apply if you are incapacitated:
- If you are ill at the start of an agreed holiday, you can ask to postpone it from the first day of illness; tell the employer without delay and give a reliable account, normally a medical certificate.
- If you fall ill during the holiday, postponement starts only after waiting days, which apply to holiday beyond four weeks and are at most six.
Someone who worked too little in the credit year to accrue holiday gets holiday compensation of 9%, or 11.5% after at least a year of employment. Unused holiday at the end of employment is paid out as holiday compensation.
