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Is it possible to accumulate vacations in periods in which the worker does not provide effective services due to medical reasons?

In Nicaragua, article 35 of the Labor Code provides that suspension is the temporary interruption of the performance of the employment contract and may come from either party and does not extinguish the established legal relationship.

This implies that the suspension of the contract consists of the fact that the employment contract continues to exist, is in force, but the main obligations of the worker and the employer are temporarily interrupted, this being a temporary measure, and guarantees that once the cause has ceased, the worker is assured of his job and the continuity of the employment relationship.

In the same sense, article 37 of the Labor Code provides that they shall be grounds for individual suspension:

1. a) The incapacity of the worker resulting from an accident or occupational disease for a period not exceeding twelve months, as long as total or partial permanent total or partial incapacity is not determined;
2. b) A common illness or non-occupational accident leading to temporary incapacity of the worker for a period of up to 26 weeks, which may be extended for a further 26 weeks.

The legislator is clear, since, according to the previous legal provision, in those cases in which the worker enjoys medical benefits, whether due to professional risks or due to common illness or accident, it is considered that there is an individual suspension of the work contract, that is, that the main obligations of the parties are temporarily interrupted.

However, with regard to the obligations that are interrupted or temporarily cease as a result of the suspension, we have the following:

1. The worker is not obliged to provide the service.
2. The employer is not obliged to pay the salary except in cases of exception contemplated in the law, contracts, and collective agreements, among others.
3. Benefits arising from the passing of time (holidays), except for seniority and the thirteenth month.

In conclusion, our labor legislation states that vacations are only generated by effective work time, as established in article 76 of the Labor Code, a legal norm that first ratifies the interruptive nature of the labor relationship that the worker’s sickness benefits have, whether of labor origin or not, but also ratifies that vacations are only generated by effective work time.

Valeska Fonseca Torrez
Associate
García & Bodán
Nicaragua