Leave after starting during the year and when working on a FTE: what am I actually entitled to?

10. May 2026

2 minutes of reading

Legal news

A client contacted us with a question: ‘I started a new job in March 2026 on a main employment contract and at the same time I have a work performance agreement with another employer from May. I have been told at work that I am not entitled to all my holiday this year, but only part of it, and I am not sure if I am entitled to any holiday at all with the agreement. Can you explain to me how leave is properly calculated in such a situation and what all the employer has to take into account?”

For both employment and FTEs, holiday is now primarily calculated in hours and entitlement is usually only for a pro-rata part of the year. In addition, from 2024 onwards, leave can also be accrued under the FTC , but only if the statutory conditions are met – in particular if the agreement lasts at least 28 calendar days and the employee works at least 80 hours.

So, for a main employment relationship, you may not really be entitled to “full annual leave” if you only started in March. The employer should calculate the pro rata amount of holiday according to the length of the employment relationship in the calendar year and your agreed weekly working hours. The calculation includes not only the work actually done, but also certain other periods that the law treats as work for holiday purposes.

In the case of a FTC, leave is assessed separately for each employer. If your agreement has been in place for at least 28 days since May and you have worked at least 80 hours on it, you may be entitled to holiday here too. For the purposes of the calculation, a notional working week of 20 hours per week is assumed for a FTC, although in reality you may work irregular hours. Therefore, an employer cannot automatically say that there is “no holiday” on a PTO; they must first check that the statutory conditions are met.