Countless people from all kinds of backgrounds work part-time jobs today. It makes no difference whether you are a retiree, a student, a mother on parental leave or an ordinary citizen. Most part-time workers are probably found in retail or the restaurant industry, but not only there, they also work in offices or on construction sites, for example.
Yet the question of whether part-time workers are entitled to vacation, or how many days of vacation a part-time worker is entitled to, is unclear to many people. (The rules described here apply in Germany.)

Vacation entitlement for part-time workers, or not?

The answer is a clear yes: of course part-time workers are entitled to vacation.
In Germany this is regulated by law, in the Federal Vacation Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz, BUrlG).
The law does not distinguish between full-time employees and part-time workers. All that matters is how many days a week you work, not how many hours.
If you work a six-day week, for example, you are entitled to 24 vacation days a year under the Federal Vacation Act.
However, the Federal Vacation Act also says that part-time workers may only claim this vacation entitlement after they have worked there for at least six months.
If you only work weekends temporarily, for example, the vacation entitlement of a part-time worker changes as well.
After the six months have been completed, though, you may certainly take the vacation days accrued so far.
If you leave the company before this six-month period is up, that does not mean there is no vacation entitlement; instead, the Federal Vacation Act regulates this case as follows:

In this case you are entitled to one twelfth of the full annual vacation. For every month you have worked in full and could not take the vacation days, for example because the waiting period was not met, the vacation days are owed to you.
In the end, you can say that you are entitled to vacation days for every full month worked; when you may actually take them depends on how long you have been employed there.
In the following, we have put together a list to show you what such a vacation entitlement could look like.

Vacation entitlement for part-time workers at a glance

  • A 6-day week means 24 days a year, which works out to 2 days a month.
  • A 5-day week means 20 days a year, which works out to 1.7 days a month.
  • A 4-day week means 16 days a year, which works out to 1.3 days a month.
  • A 3-day week means 12 days a year, which works out to 1 day a month.
  • A 2-day week means 8 days a year, which works out to 0.7 days a month
  • A 1-day week means 4 days a year, which works out to 0.3 days a month.

an example: if you work 2 days a week for 3 weeks and 4 days in the last week, that would mean 10 days a month. The average here would be 2.5 days a week, which under the Federal Vacation Act would count as a 3-day week and come to 12 days a year.