Taking holidays in Sweden

Right to 5 weeks

If you work in Sweden, you are covered by Swedish holiday legislation that gives you various benefits, including days of holiday (semesterledighet), holiday pay (semesterlön), and holiday remuneration (semesterersättning). The law gives you the right to 25 days of holiday and 4 consecutive weeks of holiday during June, July, and August unless otherwise is noted in the collective agreement. Also, you have the right to save a number of your holiday days each year for a maximum of 5 years and thus, if it is possible at your workplace, you can have more holidays one year than another.

• Holiday days: All full-time employees are entitled to take at least 25 days of holiday per year. 
• Holiday pay: This is the pay the employee receives during their holiday. Holiday pay consists of your current salary, any supplementary salary, and a holiday bonus. 
• Holiday remuneration: This is paid when you end your employment if you have not used all the holiday days that you are entitled to.

Swedish holiday year

A holiday year is a year in which you can take a vacation. It runs from 1 April and one year ahead to and including 31 March of the following year.

How do you take holidays in Sweden?

In Sweden, it is the individual employer who administers your holidays. Most often it is someone in the personnel department that performs this function. It is always good to check with your employer how the holiday routine is at your workplace. 

According to the holiday legislation, the holiday has to be counted as whole days. Usually, this means that you cannot go on half a day’s holiday (in some collective agreements it is possible to take a half-day of the holiday, so check what applies in your collective agreement). 

Official holidays in Sweden

Some days are considered official holidays in Sweden, where most employees have the day off and most working places and shops are closed. 

See the official holidays in Sweden and Denmark

Official holidays do not necessarily count as your days of holiday. It's a good idea to contact your employer and ask about this before planning your holiday. 

If you stop working in Sweden

If your employment ends, you are entitled to holiday pay for:

• Holiday accrued in the current year
• Remaining holiday for this year
• Accrued holiday from previous years

As previously mentioned, you should contact your employer to get information regarding your right to holiday payment.