Employees of Freie Universität Berlin receive vacation with continued payment of their salary each calendar year. For the calculation and granting of vacation, special leave, or special vacation, the regulations according to tariff and law apply. The full vacation entitlement is first acquired after six months of employment (waiting time). The vacation for civil servants and employees working five days a week is 30 workdays per year. A work day is a calendar day on which, according to the roster or the customary procedure, employees have to work or would have to work. The exception are public holidays, for which no compensation is granted. If the distribution of working hours differs from five days a week, the vacation entitlement is lowered or raised accordingly. Unused vacation days cannot be used past the 30 September of the following year. Vacation for employees of all Academic Departments, Central Institutes, Central Facilities, and other organizational units is, depending on the allocation of duties, granted by the employee’s supervisor or the head of the organizational unit. Employees must apply for vacation in advance and cannot take vacation before approval. When in doubt, decisions are made by the responsible division of the personnel administration. Special leave requests are to be addressed to the responsible division of the personnel administration via the employee’s supervisor and the departmental administration. Vacation requests are submitted to the administration of the institute at least three days before the start of the vacation. The application form can be found here. Please note that the form must be downloaded in order to activate the signature bar.