Setting and Carrying Over Annual Leave in Luxembourg

1. Scheduling principle: employee's preference, but not an absolute right

Article L.233-10 establishes that leave is scheduled according to the employee's wishes. However, this right is not absolute: the employer may object when operational requirements or the legitimate wishes of other employees are incompatible.

The Labour Code thus creates a three-level arbitration mechanism:

• the employee proposes their preferred dates;
• the employer may refuse for legitimate reasons relating to service organisation or fairness between employees;
• in the event of persistent disagreement, the ITM (Labour and Mines Inspectorate) may be approached for conciliation.

2. Practical scheduling arrangements

One-month notice period

At the employee's request, leave must be confirmed at least one month in advance (Art. L.233-10). This guarantee gives the employee sufficient time to plan personal arrangements. It does not mean that last-minute requests are forbidden, but that when the employee expressly asks, the employer is bound to confirm the dates within that notice period.

Collective closure of the business

When the company organises a collective closure (simultaneous leave for all or part of the workforce), the closure period must be:

• determined in consultation with the staff delegation (or, failing that, by agreement with the employees concerned), in compliance with any applicable collective agreements and company practice;
• notified to employees no later than during the first quarter of the reference year (Art. L.233-10), so that they can plan their remaining leave days.

3. Carry-over: a strictly framed exception

Principle: leave must be taken within the calendar year

Article L.233-9 establishes that leave must be granted and taken during the calendar year. Carry-over to the following year is a derogation, not an automatic right.

Exceptional carry-over to 31 March

Carry-over is permitted until 31 March of the following year when leave could not be taken before year-end due to (Art. L.233-10):

• operational requirements (workload imposed by the employer);
• or the legitimate wishes of other employees (e.g. a colleague with family priority whose leave schedule forced a co-worker to postpone).

This carry-over does not arise from the employee's choice alone: it must result from an objective impossibility of taking the leave during the year.

Carry-over of proportional leave in the first year

Article L.233-9 also provides that an employee may carry over to the following year the proportional leave entitlement from their first year that could not be fully accrued and taken during the current year.

Consequence of missing the deadline

Beyond 31 March, in the absence of a legal exception or explicit agreement between the parties, untaken leave days are in principle forfeited. According to the practical guides published by the ITM and Guichet.lu, this rule applies in ordinary circumstances.

4. Illness occurring during leave

Article L.233-11 governs the situation where an employee falls ill while already on leave. Duly certified sick days are not counted as leave days: the leave is suspended for the duration of the recognised incapacity.

Conditions to be met

• The employee must send a medical certificate to the employer within three working days of the onset of illness, if the employee is in Luxembourg.
• Illness abroad follows the same principles, with practical adaptations for distance (registered post, digital transmission where company practice allows).

Impact on leave dates

Since sick days cannot be counted as leave, the unused days must be rescheduled. The new leave dates are agreed between the employer and employee, following the same rules as for initial scheduling (Art. L.233-11).

5. Extraordinary leave occurring during ordinary leave

Extraordinary leave (family events: marriage, birth, bereavement, etc.) is governed by a separate set of rules from ordinary annual leave. Two important rules apply (Art. L.233-16):

• Extraordinary leave cannot be carried over onto ordinary leave or set off against it: it is additional to the statutory annual leave quota;
• If it arises during an ongoing period of ordinary leave, that leave is interrupted for the duration of the extraordinary leave. The corresponding days are restored to the employee's annual leave balance.

6. End of contract

When a contract ends during the year, untaken leave is compensated by an indemnity paid upon departure (Art. L.233-12). For the detail of the pro-rata calculation (twelfths, month fractions), see the guide Number of days of paid annual leave in Luxembourg.