For many employees, the employer's subsidy that is actually intended for the holiday fund is an urgently needed contribution to coping with the Corona crisis this year. But some companies are questioning the payment in the face of the pandemic.
Düsseldorf (dpa) - Especially in the corona crisis, holiday pay can help employees to fill financial gaps caused by short-time work. But more than half of the employees in the private sector do not receive any subsidy from their employer for the holiday fund. This emerges from a current study by the WSI tariff archive of the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is close to the union.
Under the conditions of the Corona crisis, vacation pay was particularly important for many employees, emphasized the head of the WSI tariff archive, Thorsten Schulten. After all, millions of employees would have to suffer a significant loss of income through short-time work. The special payment is of great importance as a contribution to stabilizing the income situation. "It is all the more problematic that individual companies are now going to want to cancel their vacation pay," said Schulten.
The chances of getting vacation pay in Germany are anything but equally distributed, as the WSI study shows. On average, 47 percent of men receive holiday pay, but only 39 percent of women. Anyone who works in western Germany has a much greater chance of receiving a subsidy for the holiday fund than an employee in the east. The size of the company and the question of collective bargaining also play a decisive role in the prospect of vacation pay.
According to this, employees in collective bargaining companies have the greatest chances of receiving holiday pay. According to the survey, around 71 percent of them receive a salary subsidy for the most beautiful weeks of the year. For comparison: For employees who are not covered by a collective agreement, it is only 34 percent.
The size of the company also has an impact. According to the WSI, only 34 percent of employees in small businesses with fewer than 100 employees receive vacation pay. In companies with over 500 employees, the proportion increases to 61 percent. In western Germany, 47 percent of employees receive vacation pay, in the east only 32 percent.
The amount of vacation pay fluctuates greatly depending on the industry - between 155 and 2513 euros in the middle remuneration group. Employees in agriculture and in the hotel and restaurant industry receive the least holiday pay. On the other hand, employees can look forward to very high payments in wood and plastic processing, the metal industry, the automotive industry and the insurance industry. There is no separate holiday pay in the public service. It is combined with the Christmas bonus to form a uniform annual special payment. Compared to the previous year, the vacation pay in 11 out of 22 examined branches increased - mostly by 1 to 3.5 percent.
There is no legal entitlement to vacation pay. The special payments can be made voluntarily by the employer or can be agreed in a tariff.