Vacation

The employee must take at least 20 vacation days during the year.

The employee is entitled to a consecutive leave of four weeks during the period June-August. Paid vacation days must be used before unpaid, unpaid days do not need to be used. Vacation days from the current year must be taken out before saved days. Vacation cannot be taken for part of a day. The employee must be informed two months before if the vacation has been granted or not.

Holiday rules are governed by the Annual Leave Act and Villkorsavtalet. Karolinska Institutet also has local agreements on Holiday.

Application

Apply to take out vacation days at the PA web

Instructional video for how to apply for vacation at the PA-web

General

• Everyone has a right to four weeks of consecutive vacation during the summer months.
• A minimum of 20 days of vacation must be taken out during the calendar year.
• You can save a maximum of 30 vacation days.
• Holidays are counted as whole days. Days when a part-time employee has a holiday are also counted as full vacation days. An employee is not, according to the Holidays Act, entitled to holiday for part of the day. If the employee wishes to take vacation for only part of a working day, that day is counted as a full vacation day.

Number of vacation days

The number of vacation days is determined by your age:

• Until and including the year you turn 29 years 28 days
• From the year you turn 30 years 31 days
• From the year you turn 40 years 35 days

How to calculate the number of vacation days

The number of paid vacation days is calculated as follows: (number of employment days) / 365 x annual vacation - 366 in leap years.

Example: Employees who are hired on the 1st of March with 28 vacation days have by the 30th of April earned: 61 / 365 x 28 = 4.68 = 5 days.
Decimals are always rounded upwards when calculating vacation days and the employee has thus earned five vacation days.

Please note that the number of employment days may be affected by various non-vacation-qualifying leaves.

Vacation days by quota

If you work an average of less than five days a week, more than one vacation day is used for each vacation day you take out. The vacation quota is calculated by dividing the number of full-time work days in the limitation period with the number of days you work during the same period.

How to calculate vacation days by quota

If an employee works on average less than five days per week, it is called concentrated part-time. 
His vacation quota is calculated as follows:

5 / a x b = c

a = the number of regular working days that the employee, according to the established list, must complete on average per week

b = the number of ordinary working days included in the period of the vacation

c = the number of vacation days to be included in the period of the vacation

Example 1: The employee works three days per week and will be on vacation for one week 5 x 3 / 3 = 5. This means that 5 vacation days must be used in order for the employee to be on vacation for one week.

Example 2: The employee works three days in odd weeks and two days in even weeks and will be on vacation for two weeks 10 / 3 x 3 = 10. This means that 10 vacation days must be used in order for the employee to be on vacation for two weeks.

Standard vacation

Doctoral students and staff that is part of a research group with mainly research and/or education-related tasks have a standard vacation, which means that it is assumed that all vacation days are taken out during the year. The vacation supplement are usually scheduled in the payroll system on two days, last Sunday in July and Christmas Day. If the employment is terminated earlier in the year, the holidays are scheduled on the last possible Sunday of the employment.  Employees with standard vacation should not apply for holidays in the PA web.

When taking parental leave for the majority of the year, the parental leave needs to be paused to take vacation. When applying for parental leave in the PA web, enter the vacation period in Message/Notes directly in the leave case. Then Payroll will allocate the vacation days during the specified period. This is to match your application for parental allowance with the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). 

If an employee with a standard vacation wants to save vacation days this needs to be planned together with their immediate superior. The department needs to be notified of how many days to save no later than the 31st of March, otherwise it is assumed that the vacation days has been taken out.

Saved vacation

Any employee who is entitled to more than 20 paid vacation days per calendar year may save one or more of the excess days for a later calendar year. However, no employee may have more than 30 vacation days saved.

Vacation supplement

For each day of vacation taken, a vacation supplement of 0.49% of the fixed salary is paid. The vacation supplement is paid in the month in which the holiday is taken.

Vacation day pay guarantee

The vacation day pay guarantee means that a full-time employee is entitled to a minimum pay per vacation day. The vacation day pay guarantee only applies to taken vacation days, regardless of whether it is this year's vacation or saved vacation. Employees with a salary below SEK 34 800 (2024) are covered by the vacation day pay guarantee.

Vacation compensation

If employment is terminated before all vacation is taken, vacation compensation is paid for the remaining days of vacation. The compensation per day is 4.6% of the fixed monthly salary plus a holiday supplement of 0.49%. The compensation is paid in the month after the employment is terminated.

Replacing vacation with sick leave or leave for sick child

For an employee who falls ill or needs to take leave to take care of their sick child (vab) during their vacation, it is possible to exchange the vacation day for sick leave or leave of absence. This option only applies if the employee registers for sick leave/vab in the PA web on the same day that he or she becomes ill or needs to take leave.
If the notification is not made from the first day of illness, the employee must provide a medical certificate covering the first day of illness.

Parental Leave and Vacation

Employees who have reduced their working hours due to parental leave should not interrupt their parental leave during their vacation. It is the employee's responsibility to ensure that parental benefit is not claimed at the same time as vacation is taken. Full-time parental leave cannot coincide with vacation; in such cases, the parental leave must be interrupted. Parental leave during the summer period (June–August) must be applied for at the same time as the summer vacation, so that the manager can plan staffing during this period.

Vacation during sick leave

Employees who are on sick leave still earn vacation days during the first 180 calendar days of the sickness period and have the opportunity to take vacation while on sick leave (does not apply to the first 14 days of the sickness period).

A person on part-time sick leave needs to take as many vacation days as they would have done if they were not on sick leave.

Vacation applications are made in the PA web.