Bosses must grant vacation time in one continuous block.

The employer only wanted to grant an employee two weeks of vacation, even though she had requested three. The Nordhausen labor court found no grounds for his refusal.

This article is part of the special topic Holiday planning in the company

An employee applied vacation for three weeks. The boss refused She denied her request because he never granted more than two weeks of vacation at a time. The woman then took the matter to the labor court – and won. Federal Vacation Act That's clear. 

The case

The employee wanted to work from March 1st to 25th, 2026. Vacation take, so three weeksThe employer refused, arguing that in his company usually never more than two The woman was granted several weeks of vacation in a row. She subsequently successfully sued for vacation time before the Nordhausen Labor Court. (Case No. 2 Ca 974/25). However, since the employer remained uncooperative, she subsequently applied for an injunction at the Thuringian State Labour Court.

The judgment

The Thuringian State Labor Court (LAG) ruled that vacation time can generally be enforced by means of a preliminary injunction. It also granted the employee her right to vacation. Vacation zu.

Because the employer's operational practice, in principle not more than two to grant weeks of consecutive leave, violate against Section 7 paragraph 2 sentence 1 Federal Vacation Act (BUrlG)The boss apparently misunderstood the second sentence of the standard. Layout the holiday is a absolute exception and only in cases of urgent operational reasons permissible or those that lie in the person of the employee. Such reasons But the employer here not explained.

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"The requirement to grant at least two consecutive weeks (12 working days) of vacation presupposes a Divisibility in advance, fundamentally not is given and a special justification due to urgent operational or reasons relating to the employee's person," the court stated verbatim, "The alleged staffing shortages due to the vacation of an employee, here the applicant, are also insufficient not out of."

Thuringian State Labour Court, decision of March 2, 2026, Ref. No. 4 Ta 15/26

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