In Austria, every employee is entitled to paid vacation each year, which is 30 working days for people with fewer than 25 years of service. Employees who have worked more than 36 working days, on the other hand, are even entitled to 36 working days. Working days here means the days from Monday to Saturday. However, if an employee works only five days a week, their vacation entitlement is likewise only 25 days per year.

But what happens if someone wants to take on another paid job during their vacation, for example? Is that even possible for employees, or is working on vacation banned?

We'd like to look at this question in a bit more detail below.

working on vacation banned

Working on Vacation Banned - Are Employees Allowed to Work During Their Vacation?

In principle, annual vacation is meant as a counterbalance to otherwise stressful working hours. That's why you shouldn't take on any other gainful employment during your vacation.

However, there are some cases in which working on vacation is perfectly possible after all. It works, for example, if you volunteer or work as a freelancer. And if you take on a side activity agreed upon with your employer, it is likewise permitted to work on vacation.

What matters most in all of these cases is that the type of activity does not contradict the restorative purpose of the vacation. That is, it must not demand the same strain over the same amount of time as the employee's main job.
That would of course contradict the restorative purpose of a vacation and would therefore be frowned upon by most employers.

After all, employers trust that their staff will rest during vacation so they can then tackle the upcoming tasks at work with full strength, not so that they need more rest after the vacation than before.
So it is not true that working on vacation is banned, at least as long as you aren't doing that work at the company you took the time off from.

Working on Vacation Banned - Working on Vacation Is Not Allowed in Every Case

We already mentioned that working on vacation is banned if the work takes the same amount of time as regular working hours. But this also applies if the activity is the same one you took vacation from.

For instance, it undermines your vacation entitlement when a boss pressures an employee to work during vacation. Of course, you can decide at any time to give in to the pressure. However, you also have the right to simply decline or ignore such requests during your vacation. After all, it's up to each person during vacation how they can be reached by their supervisors.

In exceptional cases, however, some employers have the option of recalling staff from vacation. In such a case, special arrangements are also agreed so that the employee can make up their vacation afterwards.

Working on vacation is banned when...

  • the work is done at the company you have vacation from
  • the work requires the same amount of time as your main job
  • the work is done for a competitor of your employer
  • your boss pressures or forces you to work