Annual leave in Lithuania

ECOVIS Miškinis, Kvainauskas ir partneriai advokatų kontora.

Annual leave is paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for rest and for the rehabilitation of working capacity. At this time, the employee’s job/position and the average wage is retained. This article shall briefly disclose the duration of an annual leave, the procedure of granting annual leave and payment for annual leave in Lithuania.
Duration of annual leave. According to the provisions of the Labor Code, annual leave may be of a minimum, extended or additional duration. In Lithuania the minimum duration of an annual leave is 28 calendar days.

Employees under 18, single parents caring for a child under 14 or a child with disabilities under 18 and employees with disabilities are entitled to a minimum annual leave of 35 calendar days. Certain categories of employees whose work involves greater nervous, emotional and intellectual strain and professional risk, as well as to those employees who work in specific working conditions are entitled to an extended annual leave of 58 calendar days. Additional annual leave shall be granted to employees for the conditions of work which are not in conformity with the normal work conditions, for long uninterrupted employment at the same work place or for the special character of work. Additional annual leave shall be added to the minimum annual leave and may be granted either together with it, or separately.

Procedure for taking annual leave. An employee must be allowed to take annual leave for each year of employment within the same year of employment. Annual leave for the first working year shall be granted, as a rule, after six months of uninterrupted work at the enterprise, except for women before a maternity leave or after it, who has a right to annual leave before serving an uninterrupted period of six months. For the second and subsequent working years annual leave shall be granted at any time of the working year in accordance with the schedule of granting annual leave. Certain categories of employees are entitled to choose the time of annual leave. This right belongs to persons under 18, pregnant women and employees caring for a child under 14 or a child with disabilities under 18. Men shall be granted their annual leave onrequest during the maternity leave of their wives.

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