European paid vacation law disputes

In mid‑2026, Norway’s system of withholding vacation pay for employees in their first year was judged to conflict with the EU Working Time Directive. Unions (LO, Akademikerne, Unio) and specialist lawyer Harald Breivik argued the rule breaches EØS obligations; the EFTA Surveillance Authority stepped back, leaving the matter to domestic courts and prompting unions to consider legal action. The Ministry of Labour has so far maintained the status quo.

A July 2026 study by HR platform Deel, analysing roughly 160,000 leave requests from 23 countries, confirmed that French workers, despite a median entitlement of 34 paid days (including RTT), on average take only 28 days, leaving about six days unused each year. Only one‑quarter of French employees use their full entitlement, the lowest rate among the surveyed nations, with teleworking cited as a contributing factor. The findings echo a 2025 French Court of Cassation ruling that vacation days lost to sick‑leave can be carried over if a medical certificate is submitted within 48 hours, and an August clarification that such sick‑leave days are excluded from the vacation count, allowing employees to recover lost days.

Together, these developments illustrate ongoing tensions across Europe between national vacation policies and EU/EØS labor standards, as courts, unions and employers grapple with aligning domestic rules with supranational obligations and improving leave‑usage rates.