HRIFYBCEA annual leave calculator
The Basic Conditions of Employment Act gives an employee at least 21 consecutive days of annual leave on full pay in each 12-month leave cycle. This calculator shows what that means in working days for your working week, and how much leave has built up part-way through a cycle.
A leave cycle is 12 months with the same employer, counted from the day the employee started or from the end of their previous cycle.
- Minimum for the full cycle–working days
- Built up so far–working days
- Left to take–working days
This is the statutory minimum, worked out pro rata by month. It is a guide, not legal advice. A contract, company policy, bargaining council agreement or sectoral determination may give more, and may count leave differently.
How the calculator works it out
Three weeks, in your working days
Twenty-one consecutive days is three calendar weeks. For someone who works Monday to Friday, that is 15 working days. For someone who works a six-day week, it is 18. The calculator multiplies your working days per week by three.
Building up by month
The Act sets the entitlement for the whole cycle. Spreading it evenly gives 1.25 working days a month on a five-day week and 1.5 on a six-day week, which is how most employers accrue it.
What the calculator does not cover
Employees who work fewer than 24 hours a month for an employer are not covered by the Act’s leave provisions. An employer and employee may also agree to one day of leave for every 17 days worked, which this calculator does not use.
The rules are set out in full in our guide to annual leave under the BCEA. HRify keeps these balances for every employee automatically. See leave management in HRify.
Stop working leave out by hand
HRify keeps every employee’s leave balance in line with the Act, warns them before they apply if they do not have enough leave, and passes approved leave to payroll.