Holiday

Extra holiday entitlements

Extra holiday entitlements (Feriefridage) are paid holidays in addition to the 5 weeks stipulated by the Holidays Act. Find out whether you are entitled to Feriefridage and what happens if you fail to use them.

Disclaimer: This page has been automatically translated. It may contain grammatical inaccuracies, but the content is guaranteed to be correct.

The rules for accruing and taking extra holidays depends on whether you are a private sector or public sector employee.

Find out more about your rights to extra holiday entitlements here. 

What are extra holiday entitlements?

Extra holiday entitlements, in Danish feriefridage, are paid holidays you can be entitled to. All employees in Denmark have the right to 5 weeks of holiday as per the Danish Holiday Act. But you may be entitled to a 6th week of holiday as well. The rules for this extra week of holiday entitlement depends on your terms of employment.

Am I entitled to a sixth holiday week?

Whether you have a 6th holiday week depends on where you are employed:

Private sector employees

In principle, you are not automatically entitled to extra holiday entitlements. However, you may still have extra holiday entitlements if it is stated in the collective agreement in place at your workplace, or if you have an individual agreement for extra holiday.

You can see the terms for any extra holiday entitlements you may have in your collective agreement, staff handbook, or your employment contract.

Public sector employees

If you are employed in a municipality, region or government institution, you are entitled to extra holiday.

How are extra holiday entitlements accrued?

Private sector employee: It depends on which agreement you have with your employer. Check your collective agreement, staff handbook, or your employment contract.

Employed in a municipality or region: Employees in regions and municipalities are calculated holiday days in hours instead of days. This means that you earn 18.50 holiday hours per. month corresponding to 6 weeks holiday per year.

Government employees: If you are a public employee, you earn 0.42 special holiday days for each month's employment, corresponding to 5 holiday days a year.

What happens if I fail to use my sixth holiday week?

Private sector employee: In many companies, you lose holiday days if they are not taken during the holiday year. This again depends on what agreements or collective agreements are made with your employer, so make sure you keep up to date on your holiday entitlements so you don't miss out on taking your holidays.

Employed in a municipality or region: If you do not take the 6th holiday week, it will be automatically transferred to the next holiday year, unless you have notified your employer no later than 1 October of the holiday year that you want the holiday week paid out.

Government employees: If you do not keep the days, they will be reimbursed in cash with 2.5 percent of the holiday pay in the earning year, unless you and your employer agree to transfer them to the following holiday year.

Learn more about transferring holiday and extra holiday

What happens to my extra holiday if I change jobs?

Private sector employee: It depends on your employment contract or collective agreement whether you are entitled to a payout of your unused holidays.

Employed in a municipality or region: If you change position to another region or municipality, you can enter into an agreement with the employer that you take the holiday week with you. If you don't make an agreement, the hours corresponding to the 6th holiday week which you failed to take will be paid out together with your last salary payment. 

Government employees: If you resign from your position, you must be reimbursed for the days earned.

Learn more about extra holiday entitlements if you get a new job