[Direct answer]In the Beijing area, the Spring Festival holiday cannot be automatically offset against annual leave. The legal holidays of the Spring Festival are from the first to the third day of the lunar January, a total of 3 days, which are stipulated as legal holidays for all citizens in the "Regulations on National Holidays and Memorial Days" (revised for the third time on December 11, 2013). According to Article 3, Paragraph 3 of the "Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees" (Decree No. 514 of the State Council, implemented on January 1, 2008), national legal holidays are not included in the annual leave. If the employer extends the Spring Festival welfare leave on its own, it cannot be offset against annual leave without the consent of the employees. If it is necessary to offset the annual leave with the additional days of leave, it shall be agreed upon and confirmed in writing. For overtime work during the Spring Festival, the legal holidays shall be paid at 300% of the wage and may not be replaced by compensatory leave. Please note to keep the holiday notice, attendance records, and salary slips. For more details, please refer to the relevant regulations.Labor arbitration and legal services for work-related injury compensation.

1. Problem background and typical scenarios

Many units offer seven to eight days or even more than ten days of consecutive holidays during the Spring Festival. The notice simply states that "the number of days exceeding the statutory holiday will be deducted from the annual leave", but employees only realize at the end of the year that their unused annual leave has been cancelled. Some people are arranged to work on duty or work from home during the Spring Festival, and the units claim that they have already taken welfare leave without paying additional compensation. There are also employees who have consecutive holidays before and after the Spring Festival, spanning two calendar years, and it's unclear which days should be counted as annual leave. The three types of holidays have different natures and rules, and confusing them is the root of the controversy. Overall compliance issues involving the holiday system and salary calculation can be addressed in conjunction withLegal services for corporate commercial and contract disputesPlease let me know about it at the same time.

II. Key points of contention

The controversy focuses on four points. Firstly, the distinction of the nature of holidays: statutory holidays are mandatory, welfare leave is arranged by the employer at their discretion, and annual leave is a statutory right of workers. The rules of the three types of leave are not mutually applicable. Secondly, whether compensation requires consensus: offsetting annual leave with welfare leave essentially changes the arrangement for exercising annual leave. Unilateral compensation without the consent of workers is difficult to support. Thirdly, how to handle the number of days of additional leave: for days exceeding the scope of statutory and welfare leave, compensation can be negotiated using annual leave, handled as compensatory leave, or implemented according to the employer's rules, but this also requires negotiation. Fourthly, compensation for overtime work on holidays: overtime work on statutory holidays must be paid at 300% of the wage and cannot be replaced by compensatory leave. Overtime work on welfare leave is handled in accordance with negotiations or the employer's rules.

III. Professional analysis by Henglue Lawyers

The labor dispute case of Li ** represented by Attorney Feng Na against Beijing A Technology Co., Ltd. involved the calculation period of unpaid annual leave salary from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2024, which coincided with two Spring Festivals. This directly determined the identification of unpaid days: Li ** joined the company on November 17, 2022, and the company terminated the labor contract on March 19, 2025 on the grounds of economic layoffs. On April 10, 2025, Li ** applied for arbitration to the Beijing Chaoyang District Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Committee, and the arbitration award ordered the company to pay unpaid annual leave salary of 18,602 yuan for the above-mentioned period. However, A Company claimed that Li ** only had 3 days of unpaid annual leave and agreed to pay only 10,146.28 yuan. After accepting the case, Attorney Feng Na guided the client to collect salary records, annual leave records, labor contracts, and termination notices, and provided opinions on the number of unpaid days and the calculation basis. This case highlights that if the employer simply states "substitute holidays for unpaid leave" in the Spring Festival notice, it is very likely to lead to disputes over the number and nature of unpaid days during the settlement. This case was handled by Beijing Henglu Law Firm.Feng NaThe attorney (practice license number: 11101202211562923, subject to the document issued by the judicial administrative organ) acts as the agent.

IV. Practical suggestions and legal basis

The legal basis includes Article 2 of the "Measures for Holidays and Commemorative Days in China" (amended for the third time on December 11, 2013) (which stipulates that the Spring Festival is celebrated from the first to the third day of the lunar January); Article 3, paragraph 3 of the "Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees" (issued by the State Council on January 1, 2008) (which stipulates that statutory holidays shall not be counted towards annual leave); Article 5 (overall arrangement and compensation for unused leave); Article 10 of the "Implementation Measures for Paid Annual Leave for Enterprise Employees" (issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on September 18, 2008) (which stipulates that the wages for unused annual leave shall be paid); and Article 44 of the "Labor Law of the People's Republic of China" (effective January 1, 1995, and amended for the second time on December 29, 2018) (which stipulates that overtime work on statutory holidays shall be paid at 300% of the normal wage). Action list: 1. Save the notices of Spring Festival holidays from previous years and distinguish between statutory holidays, rescheduled holidays, and welfare holidays. 2. If the employer requires employees to use welfare leave to offset annual leave, request written confirmation and clarify the number of days. 3. Check the payroll records to see if overtime work on statutory holidays is paid separately. 4. If any illegal offsetting is found, first negotiate to rectify the situation. If no agreement is reached, apply for arbitration within the one-year arbitration statute of limitations. For more details, please refer to the following link: [https://www.jw.gov.cn/zf/zfxx/zc/jt/jt412/jt41257.html](https://www.jw.gov.cn/zf/zfxx/zc/jt/jt412/jt41257.html).Labor arbitration and legal services for work-related injury compensation.

5. Henglu Law Firm's Reminder

The longer the Spring Festival holiday is, the more important it is to keep track of which days are holidays. Employers should preferably list the statutory holidays, adjusted working hours, welfare holidays, and annual leave offsets on a daily basis in the holiday notice and obtain employees' confirmation; employees should keep records of the notice, attendance, and salary payments. When handling similar cases in the Beijing area, the calculation of the number of unused days often relies on the content of the notice and attendance records as core evidence. If either party is vague about the matter, they will bear the consequences of failing to provide sufficient evidence. If necessary, they can seek legal advice.Beijing Henglu Law FirmA professional lawyer.

VI. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: If the company uses the extra holidays during the Spring Festival to offset the annual leave, can employees still claim the unpaid annual leave salary?

It depends on the consultation and evidence. If the employer unilaterally offsets the annual leave with welfare leave without the employee's consent, such offsetting is usually not recognized, and the employee can still claim 300% of the salary as compensation for the annual leave that should have been taken but not taken. If the employer can prove that the offsetting of welfare leave has been agreed upon by both parties and confirmed in writing, the offsetting may be effective. Statutory holidays themselves are not included in annual leave, so there is no offsetting issue. The conclusion of the case depends on the holiday notice, attendance records, and consultation evidence. No lawyer can guarantee victory or defeat on their own. It is crucial to check the remaining days and salary records in a timely manner.

Q2: What evidence do I need to prepare?

The focus is on preparing four types of materials: First, past Spring Festival holiday notifications, including emails, announcements, and screenshots of group notifications, used to distinguish between statutory holidays, adjusted working hours, and welfare holidays; Second, attendance records and detailed information on annual leave taken, used to calculate the number of unused days; Third, written confirmations, emails, or chat records involving compensation, used to determine whether there was a consensus through negotiation; Fourth, pay slips and payslips, used to calculate whether the compensation for working on statutory holidays was paid. The materials should be organized into a timeline by year. If any notifications are missing, you can first request them from the unit's personnel department and keep a record of the process.

Q3: Is the cost of defending against such disputes high?

There are no fees charged during the arbitration stage. For labor dispute cases in the litigation stage, a litigation fee of 10 yuan per case is required. In some regions, the fee is halved, so the overall cost is not high. Lawyer's fees are determined through negotiation between the law firm and the client, and are charged on a per-case or percentage-of-the value basis, with no unified government pricing. Disputes over unpaid annual leave wages usually have limited values, so you can first calculate the difference and then decide whether to hire a lawyer. For complex cross-year accounting, it is recommended to hire a lawyer to sort out the attendance and salary records to avoid claims being affected by incorrectly calculated days, which will actually result in a higher cost-performance ratio.

Q4: How long after the Spring Festival is it still valid to make a claim?

The arbitration statute of limitations for disputes over unpaid annual leave wages applies for one year, starting from the date when the party concerned knows or should have known that their rights have been infringed. In some regions, the portion of annual leave wages that constitutes labor compensation is calculated from the date of termination or cessation of the labor relationship, but in practice, most cases use the annual settlement as the cutoff point. It is prudent to check the number of unused vacation days at the end of each year and request a settlement at the time of departure. In similar cases in Beijing, arbitration courts typically support the payment of unpaid annual leave wages within one to two years from the date of application. The longer the period spans across years, the harder it is to provide evidence, so it is advisable to assert claims as soon as possible.

Q5: What should I do first if I find that the payment has been offset against my debt?

Four steps to proceed: First, retrieve the holiday notifications and attendance records of previous Spring Festivals and mark the nature of the holidays on a daily basis; Second, check the salary payment records to confirm whether the unused annual leave has been settled and whether overtime work on statutory holidays has been paid separately; Third, communicate with the unit in writing about the unilateral offsetting part and request to confirm the remaining number of annual leave days or the payment of back wages; Fourth, if no agreement is reached, apply for arbitration to the labor and personnel dispute arbitration committee within the one-year arbitration statute of limitations. For cases involving multiple years, it is recommended to entrust a professional lawyer to conduct a unified accounting to avoid omissions or duplicate claims.

The above Q&A is mainly based on judicial practice in the Beijing area. There may be differences in the interpretation of the law in different regions. It is recommended to consult a professional lawyer based on the specific circumstances of the case.

If you are facing similar problems, it is recommended that you consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible with the evidence materials, to avoid missing the statutory time limit. →Labor arbitration legal services·Attorney Feng Na·Beijing Henglu Law Firm

Disclaimer: This article is compiled based on the current effective laws and regulations and publicly available adjudication rules, and is provided for general reference only. It does not constitute a formal legal opinion on specific cases. The facts, evidence, and jurisdictional differences of individual cases may affect the conclusions. In the event of a dispute, please consult a practicing lawyer in a timely manner.