Can I postpone or cancel the holiday allowance?

  • Maurine La Verge
  • Q and A
  • Edited 10 October 2022
  • 1 min
  • In trouble
  • Rules and laws

Your business is in trouble. Paying your employees their holiday allowance might just tip you over the edge. If only you could postpone, only pay a part, or perhaps not pay at all. Can you? If your employees, or the court, consents, you can adjust the payment.

The law states that employees are entitled to a holiday allowance. You need to pay this allowance before 1 July. 

Ask staff for their consent

Do you think you can avoid bankruptcy by paying the holiday allowance later, in part, or not at all? You need to ask each employee for their consent. 

Explain to your employees that if your business goes bankrupt, the Employee Insurance Agency UWV will pay them their holiday allowance, but the odds are they will be out of a job. They may be able to keep their job, but only if your business is taken over or can make a new start.  

If an employee agrees to a later, partial, or non-payment of their holiday allowance, put this down in writing as an addition to the employment contract. You both need to sing to make the consent legally valid. 

Employees do not agree

Do your employees not give their consent, and can you still not pay their holiday allowance? They can take you to court and even file for bankruptcy. The court will decide whether your interest outweighs that of your employees. 

If you lose the court case, you will have to pay the holiday allowance after all. And this debt may ultimately lead to bankruptcy. 

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