Paid Holiday and Working Hours in Luxembourg: What the Law Guarantees

Luxembourg has some of the more generous statutory leave rules in Europe, paired with firm limits on how long you can be asked to work. Whether you are a new arrival, a cross-border commuter or a long-term resident, the same core entitlements apply to almost every employee, regardless of age, contract type or whether you work full or part time. Here is what the law guarantees in 2026.

How much paid annual leave you get

The statutory minimum is 26 working days of paid annual leave per year for a full-time employee, raised from 25 in 2019. This is your congé annuel de récréation. Collective agreements or your individual contract can grant more, but never less. Employees with a recognised disability or who are war-disabled or victims of a work accident receive 6 extra days.

Part-time workers get the same entitlement calculated pro rata to their hours. The right belongs to apprentices and fixed-term staff too — it is not reserved for permanent employees.

Earning leave as a new employee

A new employee becomes entitled to take leave after a qualifying period of three continuous months with the same employer. During that first calendar year, leave accrues at a rate of one-twelfth of the annual entitlement (about 2.17 days) per full month worked. Only a fraction of a month longer than 15 days counts as a full month. From the second year onward, the full 26 days are available from 1 January.

Requesting and carrying over leave

Outside a few sectors such as hospitality and agriculture, you generally choose your own leave dates, taking account of the needs of the business and the reasonable wishes of colleagues. Leave can be taken all at once; if it is split, at least one block should normally cover two consecutive calendar weeks.

Leave you cannot take in the current year can usually be carried over until 31 March of the following year. After that date unused days are normally lost, unless you were prevented from taking them by the employer, by illness, or by an agreement allowing a longer deferral. It is worth requesting leave early and in writing to protect your days.

The 11 public holidays

On top of annual leave, Luxembourg recognises 11 legal public holidays: New Year's Day (1 January), Easter Monday, Labour Day (1 May), Europe Day (9 May), Ascension Day, Whit Monday, National Day (23 June), Assumption (15 August), All Saints' Day (1 November), Christmas Day (25 December) and St Stephen's Day / Boxing Day (26 December).

If a public holiday falls on a day you would not normally work — including a weekend — you are entitled to a compensatory day off, to be taken within three months. If business needs require you to work on a public holiday, you keep your normal pay and receive a 100% premium for each hour worked. Where the holiday also falls on a Sunday, an additional 70% Sunday premium applies, plus the compensatory day.

Standard working time and overtime

Normal working time is 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. Any time worked beyond this counts as overtime. The law sets hard ceilings: you may not normally exceed 10 hours a day or 48 hours a week. Employers can apply a flexible reference period of up to 4 months, over which the average working week must stay within 40 hours while individual weeks may run higher.

Overtime must first be compensated by time off in lieu, at a rate of 1.5 hours of rest per hour of overtime worked (or credited to a time-savings account). If that is impossible for operational reasons, or you leave before being compensated, the hours are paid at 140% — your normal wage plus a 40% supplement. That overtime supplement is exempt from income tax and social security contributions. Overtime cannot simply be imposed at will; in many cases the employer must notify or seek authorisation from the Inspection du travail et des mines (ITM).

Other leave and the right to disconnect

Beyond annual leave, Luxembourg provides various forms of extraordinary (family) leave — for events such as a birth, marriage, moving house or bereavement — and, since the 2023 work-life-balance reforms, carers' leave (5 days) and force majeure leave (1 day) per 12-month period. Separately, a 2023 law introduced a right to disconnect, requiring companies to set rules on out-of-hours contact; we cover that reform in detail in a dedicated Étude article.

If your employer denies leave you are owed, or miscounts overtime, the ITM and the Chambre des salariés (CSL) can advise and intervene.

Last reviewed: June 2026. Rules and figures change — check the official sources linked above for the latest.