Sick During Your Vacation: Have You Lost Your Vacation Days?
September 2026 - You’ve been looking forward to your vacation for weeks, and then it happens: after two days, you get sick. In the past, that usually meant bad luck. A vacation day you spent sick was simply a vacation day lost. That has changed since January 1, 2024. If you become unable to work during your statutory vacation, you can make up those vacation days. There are, however, a few conditions attached.
The rule is based on a simple principle: vacation is meant for rest and leisure. If you’re sick, you can’t exercise that right in the same way. If you become unable to work due to illness or an accident during your annual vacation, the days in question are therefore considered sick days rather than vacation days. You retain your vacation days and can take them at a later time. This also applies if you become sick during a period of collective vacation.
For example: You take a week of vacation from Monday through Friday and become ill on Wednesday. A doctor certifies you as unable to work from Wednesday through Friday. Those three days are not lost as vacation days.
A doctor’s note is required
As an employee, you must take action. You must immediately notify your employer of your inability to work. If you are not at home—for example, because you are on vacation in France or Spain—you must also provide the address where you are staying.
In addition, you must always provide a medical certificate. This is an important difference from a regular sick day. The exemption from providing a doctor’s note—which applies in certain cases for the first day of illness—does not apply if you become ill while on vacation. The certificate must be submitted within the timeframe specified in the employment regulations or the applicable collective bargaining agreement. If no specific timeframe is specified, a period of two business days generally applies.
Your vacation isn’t automatically extended
An important point to note: the days you make up aren’t simply added to the end of your vacation. If your vacation was scheduled to end on Sunday and you’re sick for the last three days, that doesn’t mean you can automatically stay home until Wednesday. You’ll need to reschedule the unused vacation days at a later time.
Do you want to take them immediately afterward? Then you must explicitly ask your employer for permission. Your employer must agree to this.
What Should You Do as an Employer?
As an employer, you must also take this regulation into account. The procedures an employee must follow if they become unable to work while on vacation must be included in the employment regulations. It is therefore advisable to clearly specify whom employees must notify, the deadline for submitting their medical certificate, and what information they must provide if they are staying abroad.
Furthermore, the days during which the employee is unable to work are treated as sick days. Under normal circumstances, the employee is entitled to guaranteed pay for that period. Clear agreements prevent disputes
Falling ill during a vacation no longer automatically means that vacation days are lost. However, the employee must notify their employer in a timely manner and provide a doctor’s note. For employers, it is especially important to clearly define the procedure and communicate it effectively internally. This way, everyone knows in advance what to do when illness unexpectedly disrupts vacation plans.
