Under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, an employee is entitled to 21 consecutive days of paid annual leave per annual leave cycle. For someone working a five-day week that is 15 working days. For a six-day week it is 18 working days. The alternative formula is one day of leave for every 17 days worked.
The confusion around this number is almost entirely caused by the phrase "21 consecutive days", which counts weekends. Nobody gets 21 working days as a statutory minimum.
TL;DR
21 consecutive days per 12-month leave cycle.
Five-day week → 15 working days. Six-day week → 18 working days.
Alternative: 1 day per 17 days worked, or 1 hour per 17 hours.
Leave must be taken within 6 months after the end of the cycle.
Cannot be paid out instead of taken, except on termination.
Employees earning below the BCEA threshold are covered; above it, the contract governs.
Public holidays and sick leave do not count as annual leave.
The entitlement, precisely
Section 20 of the BCEA gives an employee 21 consecutive days' annual leave on full remuneration in respect of each annual leave cycle.
An annual leave cycle is 12 months of employment with the same employer, starting from the date employment began or from the end of the previous cycle.
"Consecutive days" includes weekends. That is why 21 consecutive days translates to fewer working days:
| Working pattern | Statutory annual leave |
|---|---|
| Five days a week | 15 working days |
| Six days a week | 18 working days |
Alternative formulas, which produce the same result and are useful for irregular workers:
One day for every 17 days worked or entitled to be paid
One hour for every 17 hours worked or entitled to be paid
How leave accrues
Technically the entitlement arises in respect of each completed leave cycle. In practice most employers accrue it monthly, which is fairer to both sides and easier to administer.
Monthly accrual on a five-day week: 15 ÷ 12 = 1.25 days a month
Worked example. An employee joins on 1 April. By 30 September they have completed six months and accrued 7.5 days.
Part-time and irregular staff are better handled on the 1-in-17 formula, which self-adjusts to hours actually worked.
When leave must be taken
Within six months after the end of the leave cycle. So leave accrued in a cycle ending 31 March must be taken by 30 September.
The employer decides when, in consultation with the employee, but it must be granted. An employer cannot simply refuse leave indefinitely — the obligation is to grant it, not merely to allow it if convenient.
An employer may require leave to be taken during an annual shutdown, which is common in construction and manufacturing over December.
Leave must be taken in a block unless the employee agrees otherwise. In practice most employers allow leave to be taken in shorter periods by agreement, which is permitted.
What cannot be done
Leave cannot be paid out instead of taken, except on termination of employment. An arrangement where an employee "sells back" leave rather than taking it does not comply with the Act.
Leave cannot be forfeited within the statutory minimum. A use-it-or-lose-it policy that wipes out statutory leave is not enforceable. Contractual leave above the statutory minimum can be subject to forfeiture rules, provided the statutory 21 days are preserved.
Leave cannot coincide with sick leave. If an employee falls ill during annual leave and produces a medical certificate, those days are treated as sick leave and the annual leave days are restored.
Public holidays falling during leave do not count as leave days.
Notice periods cannot run concurrently with annual leave without agreement.
Leave on termination
On termination, the employee must be paid out for:
Leave accrued in the current cycle and not taken
Any leave from the previous cycle still outstanding
Calculation: accrued leave days × daily rate of remuneration.
Worked example. An employee on R24,000 a month, five-day week, leaving with 9.5 days accrued.
Daily rate: R24,000 ÷ 21.67 average working days = R1,107.52 Pay-out: 9.5 × R1,107.52 = R10,521
Using 21.67 as the average working days in a month is the conventional approach, though some employers calculate on actual working days in the month of termination. Be consistent, and state your method in the employment contract.
The other leave types
Annual leave is one of five. Do not conflate them.
| Leave type | Entitlement |
|---|---|
| Annual | 21 consecutive days per cycle |
| Sick | The number of days normally worked in six weeks, over a 36-month cycle |
| Maternity | At least four consecutive months, unpaid by the employer — the employee claims from UIF |
| Parental | 10 consecutive days |
| Family responsibility | 3 days per cycle, in defined circumstances, for employees who have worked at least four months and more than four days a week |
Sick leave has a first-six-months rule: during the first six months of employment, an employee is entitled to one day's paid sick leave for every 26 days worked.
Adoption and commissioning parental leave also exist, with their own periods.
Who is covered
The BCEA leave provisions apply to employees, with some exclusions.
Not covered by the annual leave provisions: employees working fewer than 24 hours a month for an employer.
Employees earning above the BCEA earnings threshold are still entitled to annual leave, but certain BCEA provisions apply differently to them. The contract of employment governs to the extent it provides better terms.
Sectoral determinations and bargaining council agreements can provide more, and where they do, they apply. Check whether your sector has one — construction, motor, hospitality, security, road freight, wholesale and retail and others do.
Getting this right in payroll
Track leave properly. A spreadsheet works, payroll software works better. What does not work is reconstructing balances from memory when someone resigns.
Show the leave balance on the payslip. Not strictly required, but it prevents most leave disputes before they start.
Diarise the six-month deadline after each leave cycle ends, so accrued leave is actually taken rather than accumulating into an unfunded liability.
Provide for it in the accounts. Accrued leave is a real liability. A business with ten staff carrying an average of twelve days each is carrying roughly half a month's payroll as an obligation, and it becomes payable in cash the day someone leaves.
Frequently asked questions
How many leave days is an employee entitled to in South Africa? 21 consecutive days per annual leave cycle, which equals 15 working days for someone on a five-day week and 18 working days on a six-day week. The alternative formula is one day for every 17 days worked.
Is annual leave 15 or 21 days in South Africa? Both, depending on how you count. The BCEA says 21 consecutive days, which includes weekends. On a five-day week that works out to 15 working days.
Can annual leave be paid out instead of taken? No, except on termination of employment. An arrangement where an employee is paid instead of taking leave during employment does not comply with the BCEA.
When must annual leave be taken? Within six months after the end of the annual leave cycle in which it accrued. The employer decides timing in consultation with the employee, but must grant the leave.
Can an employee lose unused leave? Statutory leave cannot simply be forfeited. Contractual leave granted above the statutory 21 consecutive days can be subject to forfeiture rules, provided the statutory minimum is preserved.
What happens if an employee gets sick during annual leave? Where the employee produces a medical certificate, those days are treated as sick leave and the corresponding annual leave days are restored.
Do public holidays count as annual leave? No. A public holiday falling during a period of annual leave is not counted as a leave day.
How is leave paid out on termination? Accrued and untaken leave days are multiplied by the employee's daily rate of remuneration. Using an average of 21.67 working days a month is the conventional basis, and your method should be stated in the employment contract and applied consistently.
Leave that reconciles
Leave disputes are almost always record disputes. The entitlement is not complicated — the balance is, once nobody has tracked it for two years and an employee resigns claiming 34 days.
Smartbook runs payroll with leave tracked and shown on every payslip, so balances are current, the accrual is provided for in your accounts, and termination pay-outs are calculated from a record rather than an argument.
Last reviewed: 26 July 2026. Written by the Smartbook team — SAIPA and SAICA accredited, SARS registered tax practitioners. This article covers the payroll administration of leave. Employment law questions should be directed to a labour law practitioner. Sectoral determinations and bargaining council agreements may provide more than the statutory minimum. General guidance, not legal advice.
Primary sources: Department of Employment and Labour — Basic Conditions of Employment Act · Department of Employment and Labour — Leave · CCMA