HR-Glossar
Zusatzurlaub für schwerbehinderte Menschen (additional holiday for severely disabled people)
Who is entitled to the five extra days, how the entitlement is converted for part-time patterns and why equal-status employees do not receive it.
1. What is Zusatzurlaub für schwerbehinderte Menschen (additional holiday for severely disabled people)?
Severely disabled people are entitled under Section 208 SGB IX to five working days of paid additional holiday in the holiday year. The entitlement sits on top of statutory and contractual holiday.
The five days assume a five-day week. Where regular working time is spread over more or fewer days of the week, the additional holiday increases or decreases accordingly – what counts is the number of working days, not the volume of working time. Someone working four hours on each of five days has the same entitlement as a full-time employee; someone working three days has a correspondingly smaller one.
The most common error concerns people with Gleichstellung – equal status. This is a status of its own: people whose degree of disability is below the threshold for severe disability can be treated as equivalent, and they then hold largely the same rights as severely disabled people. But not this one. Section 151(3) SGB IX expressly excludes the additional holiday.
2. Origin and development
The additional holiday follows a simple thought: a disability regularly means greater strain from the same work and a greater need for recuperation. The compensation is not in money but in time – which is consistent, since the point is recuperation.
Because it attaches to recognition as a severely disabled person, a recurring question arises in practice: what applies where recognition is granted retrospectively? The answer favours the individual – the entitlement arises retrospectively for the period for which severe disability was established, even where the decision is issued later.
From that follows a situation that regularly surprises employers: after a retrospective recognition, additional holiday entitlements exist for past years. Whether and when they lapse follows the same rules as for other holiday – so here too, the employer's duty to notify.
3. Core principles and how it works
Five working days on a five-day week
Section 208 SGB IX names five working days. They are added to statutory and contractual holiday.
Convert by working days, not by hours
Where working time is spread differently across the week, convert accordingly. Part-time work over five days gives the full entitlement.
It attaches to recognition
What matters is the established severe disability. A retrospective finding creates the entitlement retrospectively.
Equal-status employees are excluded
Section 151(3) SGB IX expressly excludes the additional holiday. People with Gleichstellung do not have it – a common and expensive error in both directions.
Pro rata where status arises during the year
Where severe disability does not exist for the whole year, the additional holiday accrues pro rata for each complete month.
The general holiday rules otherwise apply
Carry-over, lapse, payment in lieu and the employer's duty to notify all follow the general rules of the Federal Holiday Act.
Collective agreements may improve on it
Collective and works agreements can provide for more, not for less.
4. Who is Zusatzurlaub für schwerbehinderte Menschen (additional holiday for severely disabled people) relevant for?
- Severely disabled employees – for them it is a direct and often unknown entitlement. - HR – they carry the entitlement in the holiday account and calculate it for irregular working patterns. - Payroll – on termination the additional holiday must be paid out as well. - Managers – they plan absences and should know the entitlement exists. - The representative body for severely disabled employees – it monitors that it is granted.
5. How it differs from related terms
- Additional holiday and ordinary holiday – the additional holiday is added; it replaces nothing. - Severe disability and Gleichstellung – people with equal status hold largely the same rights but have no additional holiday. - Additional holiday and special leave – special leave rests on contract or a collective agreement and has nothing to do with Section 208 SGB IX. - Additional holiday and exemption from overtime – the right to be exempted from overtime is a separate right of severely disabled people. - Additional holiday and sickness absence – the entitlement is independent of work actually performed; it accrues during incapacity as well.
6. Variants and adaptations
The calculation follows how working time is spread:
- Five-day week – five working days of additional holiday. - Part-time over five days – five working days as well; the number of hours is irrelevant. - Part-time over fewer days – reduced pro rata by the number of working days. - Six-day week or shift patterns – increased accordingly. - Recognition during the year – pro rata entitlement for the complete months of severe disability. - Retrospective recognition – entitlements for past periods; their lapse follows the general rules including the duty to notify.
7. Advantages and challenges
Advantages
- Compensates the greater need for recuperation in time, not in money
- The entitlement is clearly quantified and easy to administer
- It is independent of headcount and length of service
- Improvements through collective agreements are possible
- It accrues during incapacity for work and is not reduced by absence
Challenges
- The exclusion of equal-status employees is little known and causes errors in both directions
- The conversion for irregular working patterns is frequently done wrongly
- Retrospective recognitions create unexpected entitlements for earlier years
- Without the employer's notice this holiday does not lapse either
- Employees often do not know the entitlement exists and do not claim it
- The employer learns of a recognition only if it is disclosed
8. Best practices for implementation
Convert by working days, not by hours
Part-time work over five days gives the full entitlement. Reducing by the number of hours is the most common calculation error.
Flag equal status separately
The master record must show whether there is a severe disability or equal status – the legal consequences differ at exactly this point.
Check earlier years on a retrospective recognition
The entitlement arises retrospectively. Whether it still exists depends on the duty to notify – an employer that never gave notice must grant the earlier years too.
Offer a voluntary route for disclosure
An employer may not ask about a disability but can only meet the entitlement if it knows. A low-threshold, confidential route helps both sides.
Show the additional holiday separately
Separately from ordinary holiday in the holiday account. That makes granting it traceable and payment in lieu on termination straightforward.
9. Tips for employers and employees
For employers
- **Equal-status employees do not receive it** – Section 151(3) SGB IX expressly excludes it
- **Convert by working days** – not by the number of hours
- **Retrospective recognition works backwards** – for the additional holiday too
- **The duty to notify applies here as well** – otherwise it does not lapse
For employees
- **Five extra days on a five-day week** – Section 208 SGB IX, on top of your ordinary holiday
- **Disclose the recognition** – without knowing, your employer cannot grant it
- **Retrospective decisions work backwards** – ask about entitlements from earlier years
- **Part-time over five days reduces nothing** – the entitlement stays full
10. Conclusion
The additional holiday under Section 208 SGB IX is five working days on a five-day week and is added to other holiday. It is converted by the number of working days, not by the volume of hours – part-time work over five days therefore gives the full entitlement. That is the most common calculation error, and an HR system that models part-time work through a single full-time-equivalent field will make it by default.
The most common substantive error concerns Gleichstellung: people with equal status hold largely the same rights as severely disabled people, but Section 151(3) SGB IX expressly excludes the additional holiday. The mistake happens in both directions – equal-status employees receive it when they should not, or severely disabled employees do not receive it because the two groups are not kept apart in the system.
It becomes awkward with retrospective recognitions: the entitlement arises for the past periods, and whether it still exists depends on the same duty to notify as for other holiday. An employer that never warned of the lapse grants the earlier years as well.
Sources
- Section 208 SGB IX – Additional holiday (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 164 SGB IX – Employer duties and rights of severely disabled people (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 1 BUrlG – Entitlement to holiday (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 7 BUrlG – Timing, carry-over and payment in lieu of holiday (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
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