Appendix V of the collective employment agreement sets out the terms and conditions for compulsory collective leave.
Compulsory collective leave
Summer
15 working days from the last Friday in July, including the public holiday on 15 August.
2025
From Friday 25 July 2025 included to Sunday 17 August 2025 included.
Winter
10 working days, plus the public holidays on 25 and 26 December and the following 1 January.
2025/2026
Saturday 20 December 2025 to Wednesday 7 January 2025 included.
The ad hoc committee suggests the requesting companies to file an application for exemption form in connection with the compulsory collective leave.
In principle, this applies to all companies holding the following business permits:
- Building contractor
- Road and paving contractor
- Floor screed manufacturer
- Earthworks, excavation and sewage contractor
- Asphalt and bitumen contractor
- Grouting contractor
- Reinforcing concrete contractor
- Drilling and anchoring contractor
If several collective employment agreements appear to be applicable, check whether there are clearly separated units within the company for the distinctive activities:
- if this is the case, each company unit must apply the collective employment agreement for the relevant occupation linked to the unit activity;
- if this is not the case, the whole company must apply the collective employment agreement for the relevant occupation linked to the main activity of the company.
Exemptions
In the building and civil engineering sector, applications for exemption should be addressed to the ad hoc committee for building and civil engineering, which is the only competent body able to grant an exemption from the collective leave for the building and civil engineering sector.
Works that may give rise to an exemption
- Repair works in schools;
- Repair works in factories during production shutdowns;
- Urgent works acknowledged by the committee.
Beneficiaries
In order to be able to work during the collective leave, all companies, including any subcontractors, operating on the construction site(s) must file an application for exemption from the collective leave under the terms set out below.
Conditions and deadline for the application for exemption
- the application must be submitted 2 months prior to the start of the official collective leave;
- it must be sent to the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines, at the secretariat of the building and civil engineering ad hoc committee, with a copy to the OGB-L and LCGB unions;
- it must contain the opinion of the staff delegation or, if no such staff delegation exists, the opinion of the affected employees;
- it must specify the number of affected employees (who must be volunteers), the site on which the works will be carried out, the start and duration of the works.
Since the company may only apply for an exemption from the collective leave if it has been hired or selected in due course by the contracting authority, the awarding of a work order or the conclusion of a public contract to be carried out during collective leave must be made in due course.
The mere fact that an order has not been placed within a reasonable timeframe by the contracting authority, and that the relevant company has therefore not been able to make arrangements with the employees who volunteered, shall not be accepted as a reason for "urgent" works.
The ad hoc committee shall therefore no longer accept any application for exemption, submitted after the deadline, due to a delay in the awarding of an order by the contracting authority.
If the order was assigned in due course but the company failed to submit the application in a timely manner, the latter may be refused for not complying with the submission terms regarding an application for exemption from collective leave.