The collective employment agreement sets out the terms and conditions for compulsory collective leave.
Compulsory collective leave
Summer
A collective holiday of 15 days including the Assumption Day holiday on 15 August, which will start on the first Monday in August, will be applied each year.
2024
From Monday 5 August 2024 included to Sunday 25 August 2024 included
- Last day of work: Saturday 3 August 2024
- Return to work: Monday 26 August 2024
In principle, this applies to all companies holding the following business permits:
Heating and sanitary fitter (formerly: heating, ventilation and air conditioning fitter and sanitary fitter)
If a company holds several business permits, some of which are subject to collective leave and some of which are not, work falling within the scope of business permits subject to collective leave is prohibited.
Example: The company has a business permit as a "building contractor", "ceiling fitter" and "carpenter". In this case, the company is authorised to carry out carpentry work, but must observe the collective leave for the other branches.
Refrigeration fitter
Refrigeration installation companies, i.e. companies that have a business permit as a "refrigeration fitter", are not obliged to apply the above-mentioned collective leave.
Workers carrying out refrigeration installation work are entitled to 15 consecutive days of holiday between the beginning of May and the end of October, as the case may be, according to an internal rotation system to be agreed between the company and the staff delegation and, if there is no staff delegation, with the workers concerned.
Exemption
Works that may give rise to an exemption
- breakdown works;
- maintenance works;
- repair works.
According to the interpretation of the texts by the Fédération des Installateurs en Equipements Sanitaires et Climatiques (F.I.E.S.C.), a renovation of a bathroom (e.g.) is in no way to be equated with a repair, since a renovation can be planned for a long time and, unlike a repair, does not have an urgent nature.
The exemption must not allow the fitter to carry out day-to-day work that is not urgent and can be planned for a long time ahead.
The breakdown, repair and even maintenance works covered by the exemption are works that can be deemed urgent, requiring the immediate intervention of a fitter, without it being possible to wait for the end of the collective leave (e.g. repairing a leak)
Form
The delegation must be informed of each exemption.
An exemption from collective leave is only possible with the agreement of the staff delegation and the relevant employees.