Collective leave in Luxembourg

What is collective leave?

In Luxembourg all employees, including apprentices, regardless of their working hours or type of contract, are entitled to paid annual leave. This right is inalienable and it is not possible to waive it or exchange it for financial compensation, except in the case of a breach of the employment contract where it is possible to receive remuneration for the days of leave not taken before the end of the employment relationship.

In addition, the employer cannot impose vacation dates without the employee's agreement, nor can the employer force the employee to take unpaid leave except in certain cases:

• Apprentices: they must take their vacation during their vocational training vacation.
• Workers in the agriculture and viticulture sectors: they cannot request their vacations between June 1 and October 31.
• Workers in the hotel and catering sector: they cannot request their vacations between June 15 and September 15.
• Employees working in credit institutions and investment companies: they must take at least 10 consecutive days of vacation per year.
• Companies that close for annual leave: companies may decide to close during certain periods, thus giving rise to a collective leave, however, the collective vacation period must be agreed with the personnel delegation or in its absence with the affected workers. In addition, the employer must inform his employees of the chosen collective vacation period during the first three months of the year.
• Collective agreements: these are agreements between employers and unions that regulate working conditions in a sector or company. There are two types: on the one hand, there are the normal agreements, which are binding only on the signatory parties, and on the other hand, there are those recognized as being of general obligation, which, after state approval, apply compulsorily to all companies and workers in the sector.

Advantages and disadvantages of collective leave

With the collective leave meaning clear, let's now look at some of the main advantages and disadvantages from the point of view of both companies and employees.

• ➕ Resource optimization: in industries with seasonal activities that decrease drastically at certain times of the year, collective vacations allow for the alignment of rest periods with these seasonal fluctuations. This is the case, for example, in certain manufacturing industries that suffer significant drops in demand in the summer or in the construction sector where winter makes working outdoors considerably more complicated, uncomfortable and difficult.
• ➕ Coordinated closure for maintenance and updates: during collective vacations, companies can take advantage of maintenance tasks, repairs or technological updates that would be difficult to execute with regular activity. This coordinated closure avoids interruptions in production during the rest of the year and facilitates organization in the company.
• ➕ Predictability for employees: the existence of fixed vacation periods throughout the year allows employees to plan their personal and family activities in advance.
• ➕ Guarantee of an extended period of rest: collective vacations allow employees to be sure of enjoying a continuous period of rest, which is usually one to two consecutive weeks. In many companies it is difficult to coordinate more than a few days in a row due to the need to cover operations or projects.
• ➕ Family harmonization: in cases where collective vacations coincide with school vacations, family organization is facilitated.

• ➖ Lack of flexibility: employees may feel that they lose autonomy to decide their vacations according to their personal or family needs.
• ➖ Few days remaining: as collective vacations generally do not cover the 26 legal days in Luxembourg, workers must manage the remaining days individually. In some cases, for example if the collective vacation is two weeks, the remaining days can be very few, leaving workers with few extra days of rest for the rest of the year.
• ➖ Longer vacations impossible: those who wish to take longer periods of vacation, such as a whole month during other dates, may find it impossible to do so.
• ➖ Financial challenges: collective vacations often coincide with times of high tourist demand, such as summer or Christmas, and this means that travel costs are higher, forcing employees to spend much more on their vacations.
• ➖ Closures required by collective agreements: in sectors such as construction where collective vacation periods are determined by collective agreements, companies lose the ability to decide if they want to close for any period of the year and to set the dates according to their own strategic planning.

Collective agreements and collective leave

A collective labor agreement is a regulation specific to a company or group of companies entered into between employer and employee representatives. This agreement allows for the rules of the labor code to be supplemented according to the needs and specificities of each sector of activity, in particular with regard to work organization and limitations.

These collective agreements can establish annual leave periods, as is the case with the two collective labor agreements of general obligation mentioned at the beginning. Let's look at them one by one.

🏗️ The construction and public works sector

Annex V of the collective labor agreement for this sector establishes two collective leave periods, one in summer and one in winter:

• ⛱️ Summer: fifteen working days starting on the last Friday of July, including the legal holiday of August 15th. In 2025, these days are from Friday, July 25, 2025 to Sunday, August 17, 2025, both inclusive.
• ☃️ Winter: 10 working days, plus the statutory holidays of December 25 and 26 and the following January 1. In the year 2025/2026 these days will run from Saturday, December 20, 2025 to Wednesday, January 7, 2026, both inclusive.

There are, however, certain works that may give rise to an exemption:

• Repair work in schools.
• Repair work in factories during production stoppages.
• Urgent work recognized by the commission.

Companies wishing to apply for an exemption must send an application for exemption from the collective leave to the Labor and Mines Inspectorate at the secretariat of the ad hoc construction and civil engineering commission, with a copy to the OGB-L and LCGB unions, and comply with the following requirements:

• The request must be submitted 2 months before the start of the official collective leave.
• Include the opinion of the staff delegation or, if there is no staff delegation, the opinion of the affected workers.
• Specify the number of employees affected (who must be volunteers), the site where the work will be carried out, the start and duration of the work.

🔧 Professionals in plumbing, heating and air conditioning

The collective labor agreement establishes compulsory collective vacations for the professions of sanitary installer, heating and air conditioning installer and refrigeration installer. These vacations only take place in summer, unlike in the construction sector, where they also take place in winter. The agreement establishes 15 days of vacation, including the Assumption holiday on August 15th, which begin on the first Monday of August. In 2025, these holidays will run from August 4 to August 24.

As in the construction sector, there are certain works that may give rise to an exemption:

• Breakdown works
• Maintenance works
• Repair works

However, this exemption is only possible with the agreement of the staff delegation and the employees concerned. There is no special commission competent to grant an exemption and neither the ITM nor any commission issues an exemption authorization. In addition, the repair and even maintenance work to which the exemption refers must be work that can be considered urgent and that requires the immediate intervention of a fitter without being able to wait until the end of the collective leave.

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News and reforms

The issue of collective leave is currently a source of debate. Luxembourg's Minister of Labor, Georges Mischo, is seeking a significant reform of collective leave, especially in the construction sector, where it is regulated by collective agreements. The reform seeks to address whether collective leave is still relevant considering the need to move forward with projects that are critical for the country, such as certain public infrastructures. One of the proposals includes imposing mandatory exceptions for certain priority projects.

However, the unions, led by the OGBL, have strongly criticized the proposal, calling it an attack on a right that has been consolidated over decades. They argue that these vacations are essential for the well-being of employees, especially in physically demanding jobs. They also warn that the change could cause labor disputes and harm work-life balance.