Leave is where small employers most often get the law wrong — usually not from bad faith, but because the BCEA's cycles are genuinely confusing. Here are the rules in plain language.
Annual leave — 21 consecutive days (15 working days)
Every employee gets 21 consecutive days of paid annual leave per 12-month leave cycle — for a five-day-week employee that's 15 working days, which accrues at 1.25 days per month worked.
- Leave is taken by agreement on timing, but it must be granted within 6 months after the leave cycle ends — carried-over leave not taken by then generally expires ("use it or lose it"). Track the deadline, and warn the employee before it passes.
- You can't pay an employee instead of giving leave while they're employed — paying out leave is only allowed on termination.
- On termination you must pay out the accrued, untaken balance at the employee's current rate.
Sick leave — a 36-month cycle
Sick leave works on a rolling 36-month cycle: the entitlement is the number of days the employee would normally work in 6 weeks — 30 days for a five-day-week employee — spread over each 3-year cycle.
- In the first 6 months of employment the entitlement is only 1 day per 26 days worked.
- A medical certificate can be required for absences of more than 2 consecutive days, or more than twice in 8 weeks.
- Unused sick leave doesn't pay out and doesn't carry past the cycle.
Family responsibility leave — 3 days a year
Employees who've worked for you longer than 4 months (and work at least 4 days a week) get 3 days per 12-month cycle for a child's birth or illness, or the death of a close family member. It doesn't accumulate — unused days fall away each year.
Maternity and parental leave
- Maternity: at least 4 consecutive months. The BCEA doesn't force you to pay it — employees typically claim from the UIF unless your contract says otherwise.
- Parental leave: 10 consecutive days for parents who don't take maternity leave — also typically unpaid and claimed from UIF.
Unpaid leave and what it does to pay
When paid leave is exhausted, further absence is unpaid leave — and the payslip must be reduced accordingly. The standard approach is a daily rate of monthly salary ÷ 21.67 (the average working days in a month) per unpaid day.
The part your accountant cares about: leave liability
Every accrued, untaken leave day is money you owe — if the employee resigned tomorrow, you'd have to pay it out. Accountants call this the leave pay provision, and it belongs on your balance sheet at year-end: accrued days × daily rate, per employee.
How 360books handles all of this
360books tracks annual, sick, family, maternity, parental and unpaid leave with the BCEA cycles built in: annual leave accrues 1.25 days per finalised pay run and shows on the payslip; sick leave tracks the 36-month cycle from each employee's start date; unpaid leave automatically pro-rates the payslip at ÷21.67. Expiry is automatic: carried-over leave not taken within 6 months of the new cycle lapses on schedule, and both you and the employee see the days at risk and the deadline beforehand. On termination, one click pays out the balance on the final payslip, correctly taxed and posted to the books. Employees request leave from their own private portal link (no login needed), you approve in one click, and the leave liability report gives your accountant the year-end provision figure directly.