Annual Leave in Germany: 20 or 24 Days? The BUrlG and Carry-Over Explained in English
German law (BUrlG § 3) guarantees at least 24 working days of paid leave on a six-day week, which is 20 days on a five-day week; collective agreements usually give 30. Unused leave lapses on 31 December, or 31 March if carried over, but only if the employer warned the employee first.
German law gives every employee at least 24 working days of paid annual leave a year, counted on a six-day week, which works out to 20 days on a normal Monday-to-Friday week: four weeks either way. Most employment contracts and collective agreements give more, with 30 days the standard in collective agreements, and unused leave normally has to be used by 31 December or, if it was carried over for a valid reason, by 31 March of the next year.
The law behind this is the Bundesurlaubsgesetz (BUrlG), the Federal Leave Act. Below is what it says in plain English for expat employees and for foreign employers with staff in Germany, as of 2026.
How many days of annual leave do you get in Germany?
Section 3(1) BUrlG reads: "Der Urlaub beträgt jährlich mindestens 24 Werktage", meaning leave is at least 24 Werktage a year. Section 3(2) defines Werktage as every calendar day that is not a Sunday or a public holiday, so the Act counts Monday to Saturday as working days. That is why the headline figure is 24 and not 20.
Convert it to your own working week by dividing by six and multiplying by the days you work:
| Days worked per week | Statutory minimum per year |
|---|---|
| 6 (Mon–Sat) | 24 days |
| 5 (Mon–Fri) | 20 days |
| 4 | 16 days |
| 3 | 12 days |
| 2 | 8 days |
Every row is the same four weeks off. A part-timer on three days a week gets fewer days but the same number of weeks. (German-language detail: Urlaubsanspruch in Teilzeit berechnen.)
Public holidays are not part of the 24 days. Because the Act excludes them from Werktage, a public holiday that falls inside your holiday does not use up a leave day.
Is 20 days normal, or do Germans get more?
20 days is the legal floor, not the norm. The Hans-Böckler-Stiftung's WSI collective-agreement archive notes that on a five-day week the employer must grant 20 days, while "in Tarifverträgen sind hingegen 6 Wochen (30 Urlaubstage) üblich": six weeks, or 30 days, is usual in collective agreements. Only a few agreements in its survey fall short of 30, at 28 days.
Individual contracts outside a collective agreement can set any number at or above the minimum. If you are comparing job offers, benchmark anything in the 25 to 30-day range against that 30-day collective-agreement standard, not against the 20-day floor. Section 13(1) BUrlG says that, apart from what collective agreements may do, the Act's rules cannot be changed to the employee's disadvantage, and even a collective agreement cannot go below the § 3(1) minimum. A contract offering 18 days on a five-day week is therefore invalid on that point and the employee still gets 20.
Can you take holiday in your first six months?
Section 4 BUrlG sets a waiting period (Wartezeit): the full annual entitlement is earned for the first time once the employment has lasted six months. Before that you build up partial leave (Teilurlaub) under § 5: one twelfth of the annual leave for each full month of employment, in three cases:
- you will not complete six months within the calendar year you started in;
- you leave before completing six months;
- you leave in the first half of a calendar year after completing six months.
Fractions of at least half a day are rounded up to a full day (§ 5(2)). Example: someone with a 30-day contract who starts on 1 August earns 5 months × 30 ÷ 12 = 12.5, rounded up to 13 days for that year. More in German: Urlaub in der Probezeit.
Does unused leave carry over to 31 March?
The default is no. Section 7(3) BUrlG says leave must be granted and taken in the current calendar year. It may only move into the next year "if urgent operational reasons or reasons relating to the employee justify it", and if it is carried over, it must be granted and taken in the first three months of the next calendar year, so by 31 March.
There is a major catch for employers. In its judgment of 19 February 2019 (9 AZR 423/16), the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) held that statutory leave only lapses at the end of the year or carry-over period if the employer first enabled the employee to take it and the employee chose not to. In practice the employer must:
- ask the employee, formally if needed, to take their leave; and
- tell them clearly and in good time that the leave will lapse at the end of the year or carry-over period if they do not request it.
The employer has to prove it did this. If it did not, the untaken leave does not lapse: it is added to the next year's entitlement on 1 January. The employer can stop it piling up further by giving the notice later, for the old leave as well. For a foreign employer this is the rule that matters most. A written reminder each autumn, stating each person's remaining days and the lapse date, is the simple way to meet it. German detail: Resturlaub: wann verfällt er?
What happens if you get sick on holiday in Germany?
Section 9 BUrlG: if you fall ill during your leave, the days of incapacity proved by a medical certificate (ärztliches Zeugnis) are not counted against your annual leave. Get a doctor's note for every sick day you want back. Without one, those days stay as holiday. See also Krank im Urlaub and our general guide to being sick during annual leave.
Can you get paid for unused leave?
Under § 7(4) BUrlG, cash compensation (Urlaubsabgeltung) applies where leave can no longer be granted, in whole or in part, because the employment has ended. The Act gives no route to swap leave for money while you are still employed. Its purpose (§ 1) is paid rest: "bezahlten Erholungsurlaub".
| Situation | What the BUrlG says |
|---|---|
| Still employed, days left at year end | Take them by 31 Dec; carry-over to 31 Mar only for urgent reasons |
| Employer never warned you about lapse | Leave does not lapse; it adds to next year |
| Leaving the job with days left | Untaken leave is paid out (§ 7(4)) |
| Sick on holiday, with certificate | Days are not deducted (§ 9) |
Tracking German leave rules for a small team
If your team spans Germany and other countries, Absenca lets each office keep its own work week, public holidays, leave year and leave types, and it tracks balances, accrual and carry-over. Leave can be booked in days, half-days or hours. The Free plan covers up to 10 people in one office, with no end date and no credit card; see pricing for larger teams, and the paid leave by country page for minimums elsewhere.
FAQ
Is the minimum vacation in Germany 20 or 24 days? Both. The BUrlG says 24 Werktage on a six-day (Mon–Sat) week, which is 20 days if you work Monday to Friday.
Do public holidays count as annual leave in Germany? No. Public holidays are not Werktage under § 3(2) BUrlG, so they never use up leave days.
Does my leave expire on 31 March? Only leave carried over for urgent operational or personal reasons gets the extra time to 31 March. And statutory leave only lapses at all if your employer asked you to take it and warned you clearly that it would lapse.
Can my employer pay me instead of giving me holiday? The Act only provides a payout when the employment ends and leave can no longer be taken (§ 7(4) BUrlG).
Do I get holiday in my probation period? Yes. You earn one twelfth of your annual leave per full month until the six-month waiting period is over, then the full entitlement.
Leave rules can change and collective agreements may differ; check the official text of the Bundesurlaubsgesetz for the current version.