How should I manage days of free disposal?
Patrick Gordinne Perez2024-12-30T02:53:15+00:00In accordance with the provisions of your collective agreement, one of your employees has asked you for a day off to do some personal business.
What should you do?
Personal reasons of a worker
In day-to-day business, employees often need to take time off work for personal reasons.
Time off can help to reconcile work and personal life, but it can be complex to manage.
How should you proceed as a company when an employee requests these days?
Do you want to have a laugh?
Before we get into the subject, let’s see what Yuyu thinks of the person who invented days of free disposal. Spanish C1
Be honest, didn’t you laugh?
Well, enough laughter and let’s get down to business.
What are days of free disposal?
Definition of days of free disposal or own business days
Days of free disposal – also known as own business days – are those days that employees can use during the year to be absent from work without having to justify the reason for their absence.
The purpose of these days is to provide the time necessary to carry out personal tasks that your employees cannot carry out during their weekly rest time.
Is there an obligation to give days off?
Since the law on the statute of workers does not say anything about the employer being obliged to give days of free disposal, nor does it stipulate anything about this type of leave, in general it is not obligatory for the employer to grant days of free disposal to his employees.
What is the regulation that says how many days of free disposal a worker has?
However, personal days are usually recognised by collective agreements or company policies or agreements.
Therefore, if an employee requests time off, always check what these agreements or documents provide before you give an answer.
If these agreements or documents recognise entitlement, you should grant the employee’s request.
Should days of free disposal be made up?
It depends… what it depends on
Have you heard this song?
I’ve dropped the ball again….
The law doesn’t say anything about whether or not the days of free disposal must be recovered, so whether or not your workers are obliged to recover them will depend on several factors:
- What is provided for by collective agreement or by company agreements or policies.
First of all, it is necessary to know whether the applicable collective agreement or company agreements or policies consider these days as effective working time for the purposes of calculating the annual working time established by the agreement.
If they stipulate that these days do not count as effective working time, they must be made up.
- The usual practice in the company.
In the absence of regulation by agreement or company agreement, you should take into account what is the usual practice in your company.
Thus, if your company does not oblige employees to make up these days, it could be considered a more beneficial condition or an acquired right, so that in order to make them make up this working time you would have to resort to a substantial modification of the working conditions.
Remuneration during days off for own reasons
To find out whether you must pay for such absences, you should also consult the provisions of the collective agreement or collective bargaining agreement.
Thus, if the collective agreement makes it equivalent to other paid leave, you are obliged to pay those affected the same salary that they would receive under normal conditions.
Recommendation on free days
In short, when responding to an employee’s request for days off for personal matters, it is essential to consult the regulations established in the applicable collective bargaining agreement or in the internal company agreements . Also, in order to avoid possible claims, it is advisable:
- The implementation of an internal policy that regulates the use of these days.
- To have under control what practice is carried out in the company on a regular basis.
Recommendation on free days
In short, when responding to an employee’s request for days off for personal matters, it is essential to consult the regulations established in the applicable collective bargaining agreement or in the internal company agreements.
Likewise, in order to avoid possible claims, it is advisable:
- The implementation of an internal policy that regulates the use of these days.
- To have under control what practice is carried out in the company on a regular basis.
You were not obliged to give or pay for the own business days but look at what the agreement says and if you are in the habit of giving days of free disposal it will be considered as an acquired right for the workers.