25 Days of Annual Leave: Sweden's Semesterlagen Rules for Posted Workers

Under the Swedish Posting of Workers Act (lag om utstationering av arbetstagare), foreign employers must apply the provisions of the Swedish Annual Leave Act (Semesterlagen) to workers posted in Sweden. This law sets the statutory minimum annual leave at 25 working days per year.

The 25-day entitlement applies to all employees. It covers workers regardless of their employment type, working hours pattern, or tenure.

Sweden uses a specific calendar cycle for annual leave. The leave year (semesterår) runs from April 1 to March 31 of the following year. Paid leave is earned during the qualifying year (intjänandeår). This qualifying period runs from April 1 to March 31 immediately preceding the leave year.

During the qualifying year, employees accrue paid annual leave days continuously. The accrual rate is approximately 2.08 working days per month of employment.

If an employee has not fully accrued enough paid leave days, they are still entitled to take unpaid leave (obetald semester). This ensures they can reach the 25-day total.

Short-term postings carry specific exemptions. For assignments lasting eight days or fewer, the employer is exempt from applying the Swedish Annual Leave Act. This exemption only applies if the work involves initial assembly or installation by specialized workers under a product supply contract.

The eight-day exemption does not apply to construction operations. Work relating to building, furbishing, renovation, or demolition requires full compliance with Semesterlagen from day one.

For postings of three months or less, the employer and employee can agree to waive the right to take actual annual leave days. If the right to take leave is waived, the worker must receive holiday pay (semesterersättning) instead of taking days off.

Under Semesterlagen, employees have a statutory right to take at least four consecutive weeks of annual leave during the summer period from June to August. If there is a disagreement about the timing of this main summer vacation, the employer has the final decision-making power. The employer must plan and document this decision well in advance.

Certain absences from work are legally classified as holiday pay-qualifying. Employees continue to accrue paid vacation days during sick leave (up to 180 days per year), parental leave (up to 120 days, or 180 days for single parents), and pregnancy leave.

If an employee falls ill during their scheduled vacation, they have the right to interrupt their annual leave and take sick leave instead. The employer may request a doctor's note.

Under the carryover rules of the Annual Leave Act, employees must use at least 20 days of their 25-day entitlement within the leave year. Only vacation days exceeding the first 20 days can be carried forward to subsequent years. This allows a maximum of 5 days per year to be saved for up to five years.

Unpaid annual leave days cannot be carried over to the next leave year under any circumstances.

Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays are excluded from the calculation of annual leave days. An exception exists if the employee normally works on weekends and the leave is shorter than 5 days.

Sweden recognizes 13 public holidays (röda dagar). These are separate from the statutory 25 days of annual leave and do not reduce the worker's vacation balance.

Upon termination of employment, any accrued but unused annual leave must be paid out to the employee. This is issued as a vacation allowance (semesterersättning) in their final paycheck.

Holiday compensation upon termination must normally be paid out within one month after the end of employment.