Unused vacation from previous years: does the employee have the right to compensation
An employee can receive monetary compensation for part of the unused annual leave without terminating the employment relationship. However, this possibility is provided not in all cases, but only if the employee has already used the minimum guaranteed part of the leave.
According to part 4 of article 24 of the Law of Ukraine "On Leaves" No. 504/96-VR, at the employee’s request, part of the annual basic and additional leaves may be replaced by monetary compensation. At the same time, the duration of the actually granted annual leave for the corresponding working year must be at least 24 calendar days.
That is, an employee who is entitled to a longer duration of annual leave can receive payment for unused days exceeding 24 calendar days.
For example, an employee with a disability of group II is entitled to an annual basic leave of 30 calendar days according to the legislation. If they have used 24 days of leave, they can receive monetary compensation for the remaining 6 days. This procedure can be applied for each working year for which there are unused days.
At the same time, if an employee has a standard annual leave of 24 calendar days and has not fully used it in previous years, these days cannot be replaced by monetary compensation without dismissal.
Unused leave days in such a case do not "expire" — the employee has the right to use them later. Payment of compensation for all unused annual leave days is usually made upon the employee’s dismissal in accordance with article 24 of the Law of Ukraine "On Leaves".
As previously written by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", employees whose work involves constant use of a computer may be entitled to an additional annual leave. Legislation classifies such leave as a type of leave for special working conditions, as such work is associated with increased nervous-emotional and intellectual stress.
According to article 76 of the Labor Code of Ukraine and part one of article 4 of the Law of Ukraine "On Leaves", additional annual leaves are one of the types of leaves that may be granted to employees in addition to the main annual leave.
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