Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973

Entitlement to annual leave.

3.—(1) An employee shall be entitled to paid leave (in this Act referred to as annual leave) in respect of a leave year in which he has at least one qualifying month of service.

(2) Annual leave shall be equivalent to three working weeks where there are twelve qualifying months of service and, subject to the next subsection, to proportionately less where there are eleven or fewer such months.

(3) Annual leave shall also be equivalent to three working weeks where the employee works for the employer at least 1,400 hours (or 1,300 hours if under 18 years of age) during the leave year unless it is a leave year during which he changes his employment.

(4) A day which, apart from this subsection, would be a day of annual leave shall, if it is a day of illness in respect of which a certificate of a registered medical practitioner is furnished, be taken as not being a day of annual leave.

(5) (a) Where there are eight or more qualifying months of service, annual leave shall, subject to any registered employment agreement, employment regulation order or agreement with the employee's trade union, include an unbroken period equivalent to two working weeks.

(b) When ascertaining, for the purposes of this subsection, whether a period is equivalent to two working weeks, the fact that a day is a public holiday or a day of illness shall be disregarded.

(c) In this subsection “registered employment agreement” has the same meaning as in Part III of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , and “employment regulation order” has the same meaning as in Part IV of that Act.

(6) Where board, lodging or board and lodging is part of remuneration, the employee may, subject to being given double pay, elect not to take annual leave.

(7) (a) In this section “qualifying month of service” means any month (January to December) during which the employee has worked for the employer at least 120 hours (or 110 hours if under 18 years of age).

(b) For the purposes of subsection (3) and of the previous paragraph—

(i) a day of annual leave shall be taken as if the employee worked thereon the hours he would have worked if not on leave, and

(ii) wet time shall be taken to be hours worked up to a maximum, in the case of subsection (3), of 480 hours in the leave year or, in the case of the previous paragraph, 40 hours in the month.