As labor relations are very complex, we hereby highlight the most important details that you need to take into account and are related to the employee’s right to annual leave:

• A employee who is employed for the first time acquires the right to “full” annual leave after six months of continuous employment with that employer.
• An exception to the above is the situation when the employee’s employment relationship is terminated, then he or she will be entitled to a proportionate part of the annual leave for that calendar year, regardless of the length of the employment relationship.
• Furthermore, an employee who has not fulfilled the condition for exercising the right to full annual leave will exercise the right to a proportionate part of the annual leave, which is determined in the duration of 1/12 of the total number of days of annual leave to which he or she would be entitled, for each month of employment.

The minimum duration of annual leave prescribed by the provisions of the Labour Act is four weeks.

However, the number of days of annual leave (whether “full” or proportional) is determined by the number of working days depending on the employees weekly schedule of working hours.

For example, if a employee works in a five-day working week, four weeks of annual leave will be twenty days of annual leave, while for a worker employee who works in a six-day working week, four weeks of annual leave will be twenty-four days of annual leave.

When calculating the duration of proportional annual leave, at least half of the days of annual leave shall be rounded up to the whole day of annual leave and at least half of the month of work shall be rounded up to the whole month.

Likewise, if the employee does not use the annual leave in full, given that the employer is the one who distributes the working hours, and his employment with the employer ends, the employee is entitled to compensation for the days of unused annual leave from the employer.

This is also the only case when an employee may be paid compensation “instead of” taking annual leave – from which it follows that the employee cannot waive the right to use annual leave in exchange for compensation, nor can the employer demand the same from him.

The stated salary compensation for the use of annual leave cannot be less than the employee’s average monthly salary in the previous 3 months, and  the calculation of the same includes data on the basic salary and salary supplements (overtime, night work, work on Sundays, work on holidays, allowance for difficult working conditions, allowance for years of service, incentives, etc.), and are not included payments that do not constitute remuneration for work (e.g. support to an employee due to sick leave longer than 90 days, support for the death of a family member above the non-taxable amount, etc.)

Right to annual leave in case of dismissal during probationary period

Contracting a probationary period is one of the ways in which Employers can insure themselves when concluding an Employment Contract for an indefinite period of time in such a way that during that period they can clearly determine whether the employee can meet the requirements of the position for which they are employed or not. The duration of the probationary period cannot be contracted for more than 6 months.

Failure of employee to satisfy job requirements in a probationary period is a particularly justified reason for termination of an employment contract, which can be terminated during its duration, and no later than on the last day of the probationary period.

During the probationary period, the Labor Act determines the shortest duration of the notice period in the duration of 7 days, but such a short notice period must be stated in the employment contract. In the event that the notice period of 7 days is not specified in the employment contract, then the provision of Article 122, paragraph 1, point 1 of the Labor Act shall apply, i.e. the notice period in this case lasts 2 weeks.

An employee who has an employment contract with an agreed probationary period, and if it is terminated due to dissatisfaction during the probationary period, and even before the expiry of the agreed probationary period, has the same rights regarding annual leave – and that is the right to a proportional part of the annual leave.

This means that an employee who is employed with an agreed probationary period of 6 months, e.g. on 28.12.24, and whose employment contract due to not satisfying employment requirements is terminated on 31.03.25., and is according to contract entitled to 20 days (4 weeks) in accordance with his working time schedule, would be entitled to 20/12x 3=5 days upon dismissal.

Important note – the right to annual leave is one of the elementary rights of employees, which the employee cannot waive or dispose of in any other way, and the importance of this right is shown by the fact that this right of the employee is also prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (Art. 56 of the Constitution).

Author, Admin