Holidays represent one of the most valuable rights of workers. For each calendar year, workers have the right to enjoy a rest period, which in no case will be less than 30 calendar days. They should also be paid without applying any reduction given the continuance of the work contract during the holidays. The right to enjoy a rest period is one of the inalienable rights of the worker, being considered as a method of “regeneration”, and therefore is not substitutable by economic compensation.
The reason for the period is that workers need to rest a certain time for their recovery, and subsequent performance. On this occasion, we will explain the way in which the worker must inform the employer of the period in which he intends to enjoy the rest/holiday(s). The most common way to notify the beginning and end of the rest period is through a letter of communication of rest period to the employer. It is highly advisable to channel the request for rest period through this written communication channel, since this way we record our preference when choosing dates, as well as the exercise of our right to enjoy our rest period.
The most appropriate time for the realization of our letter is after the company has agreed to the working calendar with the workers and set the available rest periods. In many labor laws, the labor calendar is a document that should reflect the working day, rest days, holidays and holiday periods, as well as the distribution of irregular days, where appropriate, throughout the natural year. This calendar must be in view of the workers, so it has a public nature, and must be drawn up annually. The labor calendar is a purely declarative and informative document, which contemplates the business decision or collective bargaining agreements regarding the distribution of working hours. The work calendar must be displayed in the work center at the sight of the workers, and must be signed by the company and the workers’ representatives, if any.
But it must be borne in mind that such collective agreements may establish limitations or requirements regarding the periods of enjoyment of rest days or vacations, both in fractional enjoyment and at the time of year, taking into account the specialties of each sector. The normal condition is that the obligation of enjoyment is established uninterruptedly during the months of the summer period.
A very important factor to take into consideration, in relation to the inalienability of the right and the strict obligation of its enjoyment, is that rest days or vacations that are not enjoyed within the calendar year are lost and do not entitle the worker to claim compensation, so it is absolutely necessary to demand the right to enjoy the rest days or holidays at the appropriate time.
Some agreements extend the right of workers to enjoy the rest days or vacations of a natural year until a few months into the next calendar year, which does not usually go beyond the month of March or April of the following year. In the cases of having remained on sick leave due to temporary disability, vacations not enjoyed during the year can be enjoyed in the following year, once medical discharge occurs, provided that no more than 18 months have elapsed since they were generated.
The vacation request letters that correspond to us must have a series of essential information: the number of rest/vacation days we want to enjoy, the period, indicating the start date and end date, as well as the date of reincorporation to the labor activity together with the signature of the applicant. For diligent purposes, the letter must express the name of the company and recipient of the letter. Once again, the period of rest is one of the basic rights of workers and can’t be compensated with money. This period is very important because it greatly affects the health of a worker, both mentally and physically. To know how rest can contribute to healing, you can see what Feras Antoon, a successful, says about Shania Twain’s fight against Lyme disease.
