Can the worker carry out another paid activity while on holiday?

There are many situations in which workers want to use their holiday time to temporarily engage in some other paid activity. Can they do so freely? Or is this possibility dependent on authorisation from the employer?

The right to holiday is based on two elementary purposes: on the one hand, to provide the worker with physical and mental recovery; on the other, to ensure minimum conditions for personal availability, integration into family life and social and cultural participation.

In line with this, the law stipulates that, as a rule, during holidays, the worker cannot carry out any other paid activity.

If this rule is breached, the worker is immediately subject to the employer's disciplinary powers, which may result in a disciplinary penalty.

On the other hand, in the event of a breach, the employer is entitled to recover the employee's holiday pay and holiday allowance, half of which goes to the department responsible for the financial management of the Social Security budget.

To this end, the employer may deduct up to 1/6 of the employee's salary from each subsequent pay period.

There are, however, two exceptions in which the worker may, during the holiday period, engage in another paid activity. These are

1. Situations involving an activity that the worker was already carrying out in addition to their professional activity.
   
   
2. Situations in which the employer has expressly authorised this (namely, following a request made by the worker).
   
   

If either of these two situations is verified, the exercise of paid activity by the worker during their holiday period does not constitute a violation of the holiday regime.