A leave management template helps HR professionals to document leave requests, remaining leave balances and absences in a structured and legally compliant way. Under German law, governed primarily by the Federal Leave Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz, BUrlG), companies must keep transparent records of leave entitlements, approvals and expiry deadlines. Whether you opt for an Excel template or dedicated software depends on your company's size and administrative workload.
What Is Leave Management?
Leave management encompasses all processes by which a company receives, approves, documents and tracks the remaining leave balances of its employees. It is not an optional extra but an administrative obligation: without clear documentation, conflicts quickly arise – over overlapping leave requests, incorrectly calculated remaining days or missed expiry deadlines.
A leave management template – whether an Excel spreadsheet, a Google Sheet or an integrated module within HR software – is the central tool for mapping this process in a structured way. It creates transparency for everyone involved: HR, line managers and employees themselves.
Leave management should be distinguished from pure working time tracking: while the latter records daily hours worked, leave management focuses on the planning and monitoring of absence days.
Legal Framework: What Does the Law Say?
Leave Entitlement Under the BUrlG (§1 and §3)
The Federal Leave Act (BUrlG) is the statutory foundation for the leave entitlement of all employees in Germany. Under §1 BUrlG, every employee is entitled to paid annual leave in each calendar year. §3 BUrlG sets the minimum entitlement: 24 working days per year based on a six-day working week – which corresponds to 20 working days under the five-day week standard in practice.
Many employment contracts provide for entitlements beyond this minimum, typically 25 to 30 days. This contractually agreed additional leave may be subject to different rules from the statutory minimum – particularly regarding forfeiture and carry-over.
For part-time employees, entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis according to the actual number of working days per week. Someone working three days per week, for example, has a minimum entitlement of (3 / 5) × 20 = 12 working days.
Granting Leave and Employee Preferences (§7 BUrlG)
§7 BUrlG governs how and when leave must be granted. Employers are generally obliged to take employees' preferred leave dates into account – unless urgent operational needs or the legitimate leave requests of other colleagues conflict with them. This means overlapping leave requests within a team are a legitimate reason for refusal, but the refusal must be documented and justified.
Remaining Leave, Forfeiture and Carry-Over (§7(3) BUrlG)
Leave must in principle be taken within the current calendar year. Carry-over to the following year is only permitted under §7(3) BUrlG if there are urgent operational or personal reasons. In such cases, the carried-over leave expires at the latest on 31 March of the following year.
Important: For contractually agreed additional leave, employment contracts or collective agreements may stipulate different – and often stricter – forfeiture rules.
The Employer's Duty to Notify – Landmark ECJ Case Law
Following two landmark rulings by the European Court of Justice in 2018 (ECJ, C-619/16 – Kreuziger; ECJ, C-684/16 – Max-Planck-Gesellschaft), German law now requires the following: annual leave only expires at year-end if employers have previously and proactively informed employees that they still have outstanding leave and that it is at risk of forfeiture.
In practice, this means: any employer who cannot demonstrate that this notification obligation has been fulfilled risks the leave not expiring despite the year-end deadline – and entitlements continue to accumulate. The burden of proof lies with the employer. This documentation requirement is one of the key reasons why structured leave management is not an optional task.
What Must a Leave Management Template Include?
A legally compliant and practical template requires at minimum the following fields:
Required fields:
- Employee name
- Department and responsible line manager
- Annual leave entitlement (statutory and contractual, listed separately)
- Leave days carried over from the previous year
- Total leave allowance for the current year
- Leave days taken (with the time period and date of approval)
- Remaining leave balance (automatically calculated)
- Approval status per request (requested / approved / declined)
Recommended additional fields:
- Special types of absence (special leave, educational leave, illness during leave under §9 BUrlG)
- Number of working days per week (important for part-time employees)
- Documentation field for notification of impending leave forfeiture (ECJ compliance)
- Field for reasons for declined leave requests
Setting Up Leave Management Step by Step
Step 1: Define Leave Entitlements
Establish the individual leave entitlement for each employee – based on their employment contract, weekly working days and any applicable collective agreements. Clearly separate statutory minimum leave from contractual additional leave, as different forfeiture rules may apply.
Step 2: Select and Customise the Template
Choose a format that suits your company's size and IT resources (more on this in the next section). Adapt the template to your specific types of absence – for example, if flexitime, overtime reduction or special leave also need to be documented.
Step 3: Define the Request and Approval Process
Establish how leave is requested (written application, email, form), who approves it and within what timeframe a response must be given. Keep the approval documented – not just the fact of approval, but also the date. In the event of a dispute, the burden of proof is decisive.
Step 4: Manage Remaining Leave at Year-End
At the end of the year, systematically check which employees still have outstanding leave balances and notify them actively and verifiably of this fact (ECJ notification obligation). Document the notification – ideally in writing. Transfer any legitimately carried-over days into the new leave year and make the forfeiture deadline (31 March) clearly visible in the template.
Excel Template or HR Software – What Suits Your Company?
Both approaches have their merits. The decision depends primarily on team size and administrative workload.
Excel template – suitable for small companies:
For teams of up to around 10 to 15 people, a well-maintained Excel or Google Sheets template is often perfectly adequate. It is immediately ready to use, free of charge and flexible to adapt. The drawbacks: there is no employee self-service, manual maintenance increases the risk of errors, and getting an overview across multiple teams requires more effort.
HR software – suitable from medium-sized companies onwards:
From around 20 employees, or when multiple locations and part-time models are involved, a digital leave management solution is recommended. Advantages include automatic calculation of remaining leave, employee self-service portals, automatic reminders before expiry deadlines, and comprehensive documentation for ECJ notification compliance. HR software significantly reduces the administrative burden and minimises the risk of errors. You can find an overview of hybrid working models and the associated requirements for flexible HR processes in the Aivy lexicon.
Frequently Asked Questions About Leave Management
How much statutory leave are employees entitled to?
The statutory minimum leave entitlement under §3 BUrlG is 24 working days based on a six-day working week – for the standard five-day week, this corresponds to 20 working days. Most employment contracts provide for 25 to 30 days. Part-time employees have a pro-rata entitlement based on their number of working days per week.
When does remaining leave expire?
Statutory leave generally expires on 31 December of the leave year (§7(3) BUrlG). Carry-over to 31 March of the following year is only permitted where there are urgent operational or personal reasons. Crucially, since the ECJ rulings of 2018 (C-619/16 and C-684/16), leave does not expire if employers have not actively and promptly notified employees of the impending forfeiture. The burden of proof lies with the employer.
Do I have to document leave requests in writing as an employer?
The law does not prescribe an explicit written form requirement, but documentation is strongly recommended from a legal and practical standpoint. It protects against disputes over approvals and is the decisive proof for ECJ-compliant notification compliance. A written or digital request with a documented approval is standard practice and highly advisable.
What happens if an employee falls ill during their leave?
If employees become ill during their leave, the days of illness are not counted as leave days (§9 BUrlG) – provided a medical certificate of incapacity for work is submitted. The corresponding leave days are credited back to the employee's account and can be taken at a later date. The leave management template should include a separate field for this purpose.
How do I manage leave for part-time employees?
Leave entitlement is calculated according to the number of working days per week. Example: an employee working three days per week is entitled to (3 / 5) × 20 = 12 working days of minimum leave. Enter each employee's individual weekly working pattern in the template and calculate entitlement accordingly – this prevents errors with part-time or variable working arrangements.
Can I manage leave compliantly using an Excel template?
Yes, this is possible for small teams – provided the template contains all relevant fields (entitlement, approvals, remaining leave, notification documentation), is kept consistently up to date and is transparent for all parties involved. However, as the number of employees grows, the administrative effort increases significantly and the risk of errors rises. From around 20 people, a digital solution is advisable.
What is the difference between statutory leave and contractual additional leave?
Statutory leave (the minimum entitlement under the BUrlG) is strictly protected: it cannot simply lapse as long as employers have not fulfilled their notification obligation. Contractual additional leave – the extra days agreed in the employment contract – can, however, be subject to stricter forfeiture rules through contractual clauses, such as automatic forfeiture on 31 December with no carry-over option. It is worth tracking both categories separately in the template.
Conclusion
Structured leave management is not a bureaucratic obligation but an important foundation for smooth HR processes and legal protection. The statutory requirements of the BUrlG and the ECJ case law on the notification obligation make comprehensive documentation indispensable – regardless of whether you use Excel or HR software.
The key points in brief: every leave management template needs clear fields for entitlements, days taken and days remaining, as well as a traceable approval record. Separate statutory and contractual additional leave, document notifications about impending forfeiture and adapt your system to the size of your organisation.
For further legal background on HR documents, see the article on the employment reference letter. If your company works with hybrid working models, it is also worth looking at the specific requirements for distributed teams.
Would you like to improve not only your operational HR processes but also the quality of your hiring decisions? The digital platform Aivy supports HR teams with scientifically validated aptitude diagnostics tools for more objective and fair personnel selection. Learn more about data-driven hiring decisions with Aivy.
Sources
- Federal Leave Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz, BUrlG) – §1, §3, §7, §9. Federal Ministry of Justice, continuously updated. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/burlg/
- ECJ, Judgment of 6 November 2018, C-619/16 (Kreuziger v Land Berlin) – Employer's duty to notify before leave forfeiture. European Court of Justice, 2018. https://curia.europa.eu
- ECJ, Judgment of 6 November 2018, C-684/16 (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften) – Leave forfeiture and burden of proof. European Court of Justice, 2018. https://curia.europa.eu
- BMAS: Annual Leave in the Employment Relationship. Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, 2024. https://www.bmas.de/DE/Arbeit/Arbeitsrecht/Arbeitnehmerrechte/Urlaub/urlaub.html
- Haufe: Employment Leave Law in Brief – Remaining Leave, Forfeiture, Carry-Over. Haufe-Lexware GmbH, 2024. https://www.haufe.de/personal/arbeitsrecht/urlaub
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