Annual-leave value calculator

Article 109 provides that an employee is entitled to paid annual leave of no less than twenty-one days, rising to no less than thirty days once the employee has completed five continuous years in the employer's service.

This is a floor, not a ceiling. An establishment may grant more in the contract or in its work regulations, and what it grants becomes binding on it.

The days are calendar days rather than working days, so weekly rest days and holidays falling inside the leave period count towards it unless otherwise agreed.

The condition is five continuous years with the same employer. Continuity matters: a break in service followed by a return restarts the count unless the contract provides for prior service to be counted.

The correct practical application is that the higher entitlement applies to the year beginning after the fifth year is completed, rather than recomputing past years retroactively.

An employee who leaves or starts mid-year earns a balance proportionate to the period served. The formula: entitled balance equals annual entitlement divided by twelve, multiplied by the number of months completed.

So an employee with a twenty-one day entitlement who has served seven months earns roughly twelve and a half days. Days actually taken during the period are then subtracted to show the remaining balance.

The employer may set leave dates according to the requirements of the work, or grant leave in rotation to keep operations running, provided the employee is notified of the set date at least thirty days in advance, and leave pay is paid up front under Article 109.

The employer may also defer leave beyond the end of the year in which it accrued where the work requires it, subject to the employee's written consent and within the period prescribed by law. An employee may not, however, waive their leave for a cash payment while still in service.

When the employment relationship ends, the employee is entitled to a cash allowance for accrued leave days not taken, computed on the last wage, under Article 111.

This allowance is also due for fractions of a year in proportion to the period served, even where a full year was not completed. It is an entitlement entirely separate from the end-of-service gratuity and is paid alongside it, not instead of it.

The most frequent error establishments make is deducting sick leave or public holidays from the annual balance. These are separate entitlements with their own rules and are not deducted from it.

Next is skipping the pro-rata calculation for someone who left mid-year on the grounds that they did not complete a year, which is incorrect. Then there is writing off carried-over balances with the passage of time without the employee's written consent.

A fourth error surfaces at final settlement: computing the allowance on the basic wage alone when the employee was receiving fixed allowances, which understates the entitlement and turns it into a claim.