'less the holiday to which you would have been entitled (ie had you worked for us) during the period of your employment with your previous employers'

more difficult than it looks, this one. As I read it, the 'anteilger Urlaub' can only refer to the holiday entitlement due from the new employer not the entitlement/holiday taken from the old one. Otherwise, the new employer will be granting additional holiday/clawing back holiday to the extent that the entitlement under the old employer was less/more than under the new one, and why would he do that?

If it simply refers to the entitlement *at the rate granted by the new employer* which would have accrued if the person had been employed from the start of the year, then someone joining on, say, May 1 will be entitled to 20 days. If 'anteiliger Urlaub' refers to the *previous* holiday entitlement or time taken, then an employee joining on May 1 might be entitled (taking it to extremes) to anything from 0-30 days holiday for the first eight months, depending on the previous terms, which doesn't seem to make much sense?

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Note added at 11 hrs (2007-01-13 11:58:07 GMT)
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just to be clear, 'the first eight months' means the first eight months of the new employment ie May1 to December 31, not the first eight months of the calendar year