At the employee’s request, annual leave can be divided into parts. At least one of these parts must be no shorter than 14 consecutive calendar days (including statutory holidays, Sundays, etc.). Apart from the minimum 14-day period, the annual leave can be divided into any number of parts, and each part can be of any length.

The obligation to grant at least 14 consecutive days of annual leave applies to a planned vacation or annual leave granted at the employee’s request. This requirement does not apply in cases where the annual leave is split, for example, due to the employee’s illness.

In practice, it happens that employees themselves request short annual leave. In such cases, the employer has no grounds to force subordinates to take longer breaks. The employer can only suggest this, especially since some psychologists believe that a genuine recovery of an employee’s energy requires a break of at least three weeks.

Even if none of the annual leave parts lasts 14 days, there is no basis for imposing a fine on the employer. A violation of employee rights occurs when the employer does not grant annual leave at all, or unjustifiably reduces its length, not when it is taken in shorter parts at the employee’s request.