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Vacation Days Calculator (Spain)

Work out how many vacation days you have accrued so far in Spain, how many remain, and what happens to them if the contract ends, under article 38 of the Workers' Statute and your collective agreement.

The legal minimum is 30 natural days per full year (art. 38 ET); many agreements express it as 22 working days or improve it. Days accrue proportionally: days per year × months ÷ 12.

Days accrued
15
Days pending
15

Educational estimate under article 38 of the Workers Statute; your collective agreement may improve the minimum and set its own counting rules. Pending vacation is only paid out in money when the contract ends; the finiquito calculator computes that amount.

Video: how to use the calculator

1

The legal minimum: 30 natural days a year

Article 38 of the Workers' Statute guarantees paid annual leave of at least 30 natural days, weekends included. Many collective agreements express the same right as 22 working days, and plenty improve on it. The calculator takes your agreement's number, in whichever unit it uses.

2

How they accrue: in proportion to time worked

Vacation does not appear in full on 1 January: it accrues in proportion to the time worked in the year. On the 30-day minimum, each month earns 2.5 natural days. Someone who started on 1 July has earned about 15 days by year end, not 30. The formula is days per year × months worked ÷ 12.

3

What happens to pending days when the contract ends

Vacation cannot be exchanged for money, with one exception: when the contract ends, days earned and not taken are paid in the finiquito at the daily salary. And in reverse: if you took more days than you had earned, the company may deduct the excess. The finiquito calculator puts euros on that balance.

4

They expire: the accrual year is the general limit

The general rule is that vacation is taken within the calendar year it accrues in and does not pile up indefinitely. The exceptions are in article 38.3 itself, and there is more than one: where a temporary incapacity prevented it, you may take the days once the sick leave ends and at most eighteen months from the end of that year (2026 days, until 30 June 2028); and where the cause was pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding or a birth-related suspension, the preceding paragraph sets no deadline at all.

Worked example

Example: a 30-natural-day agreement, 9 months worked and 12 days already taken. Accrued: 30 × 9 ÷ 12 = 22.5 days. Pending: 22.5 − 12 = 10.5 days. If the contract ended today, those 10.5 days would be paid in the finiquito at the daily salary.

Frequently asked questions

How many vacation days accrue per month worked?
On the legal minimum of 30 natural days a year, 2.5 days per month. If your agreement grants more (say 34 days), the proportion rises accordingly: 34 ÷ 12 ≈ 2.83 days per month.
Are 30 natural days and 22 working days the same?
Approximately, yes: 30 natural days include weekends and work out to about 22 working days in practice. What matters is using your agreement's unit and not mixing the two when counting.
Can I be paid instead of taking my vacation?
Not during the contract: article 38 forbids it. The only lawful cash compensation is for pending days when the contract ends, settled in the finiquito.
What if I took more days than I had accrued?
During the contract, nothing: it is a common advance. If the contract ends with excess vacation taken, the company may deduct its value in the finiquito, just as it pays out pending days in the opposite case.
Do this year's vacation days expire if I do not use them?
As a general rule they are taken within the calendar year and do not carry over. The exceptions are written in article 38.3 of the Statute, with a difference almost nobody points out: an ordinary temporary incapacity gives eighteen months from the end of the year they accrued in, while pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and birth-related suspensions carry no deadline at all.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: