Legal Annual Leave Entitlement for Singapore Employees
For employees earning less than SGD 2,000/month, the statutory annual leave is outlined in the Employment Act. To qualify for annual leave, the employee must have served at least 3 months with the employer. The amount of annual leave is dependent on the contractual agreement between the employee and your employer, but is subject to a minimum of 7 days during the first year, and 1 extra day for each additional year of service.
Annual leave taken even on a half-working day is considered 1 day’s leave, unless otherwise stated in the employment contract. In the case of dismissal for misconduct, absenteeism from work without permission for more than 20% of working days in the month, or if the leave is not used up within 12 months of every year of continuous service, the employee’s annual leave will be forfeited, unless otherwise specified in the employment agreement.
Who Eligible For Annual Leave?
You are entitled to paid annual leave if you have worked for your employer for at least 3 months.
You can only apply for annual leave after working for 3 months.
Annual Leave Entitlement in Singapore
Your annual leave entitlement depends on how many years of service you have with your employer. Your year of service begins from the day you start work with your employer.
Year of service | Days of leave |
1st | 7 |
2nd | 8 |
3rd | 9 |
4th | 10 |
5th | 11 |
6th | 12 |
7th | 13 |
8th and thereafter | 14 |
Example:
If an employee begins work on 14 March 2015, the annual leave entitlement will be calculated as follows:
Period of employment | Completed months of service | Annual leave entitlement |
14 Mar 2015 to 13 Mar 2016 | 12 | 7 days (1st year) |
14 Mar 2016 to 13 Mar 2017 | 12 | 8 days (2nd year) |
14 Mar 2017 to 13 Mar 2018 | 12 | 9 days (3rd year) |
How to Calculated Pro Rate Annual Leave?
If you worked | Your annual leave is pro-rated |
3 to 12 months | Based on the number of completed months you have worked. This applies even if you’re still on probation. |
More than a year | Based on the number of completed months you worked in your current year. |
Annual leave is pro-rated using this formula:
(Number of completed months of service ÷ 12 months) × Number of days of annual leave entitlement
Example:
If an employee started work on 14 Mar 2015 and left service on 31 Jul 2015, the number of completed months of service is:
14 Mar 2015 to 13 Jul 2015 = 4 completed months
The period from 14 to 31 July 2015 is disregarded as it is not a completed month.
If an employee has completed 4 months of service and is entitled to 10 days of leave a year, the pro-rated annual leave is:
(4 completed months ÷ 12 months) × 10 days of leave = 3.33 days
Rounded down to 3 days as the fraction is less than 0.5.
If you are taking unpaid leave
You should exclude periods of approved unpaid leave when calculating your annual leave entitlement.
If you have taken unpaid leave, your employer can pro-rate your leave entitlement based on how many complete months you have worked.
An employee is entitled to 12 days of annual leave. The employee takes 1 day unpaid leave per month from January to April, i.e. 4 days in total.
The employee’s pro-rated annual leave entitlement from 1 January to 30 April will be based on 3 completed months of service.
The number of pro-rated annual leave is 3 days:
(3 completed months ÷ 12 months) × 12 days of leave = 3 days
If you are serving notice
If you have resigned, your notice period is included when calculating your pro-rated annual leave.
An employee is entitled to 12 days of annual leave and took 2 weeks of unpaid leave in March. Subsequently, the employee resigned on 1 August and is serving 1 month’s notice.
The employee’s pro-rated annual leave entitlement from 1 January to 31 August excludes the month of March and includes August.
The number of pro-rated annual leave is 7 days:
(7 completed months ÷ 12 months) × 12 days of leave = 7 days
Sick Leave Entitlement in Singapore
An employee worked for employer at least 3 months are entitled to sick leave of
| Month in Service | Minimum Entitlement |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 11 |
| 6 and above | 14 |
Employee have to inform or tried to inform employer within 48 hours of the absence. Sick leave must be supported with medical certification by the company’s doctor, company approved doctor or a government doctor.
Maternity Leave Entitlement in Singapore
Benefit is applied in case of the child is stillborn or dies shortly after birth. The stillbirth will not be counted in determining employee eligibility for maternity leave benefits for the next delivery. Benefit is not applied for abortion or miscarriage. Any rest day or public holiday and sick leave that falls due during maternity leave is counted as part of the maternity leave and will not give rise to any additional leave or payment.
As a working mother is entitled to maternity leave of:
| Criteria | Minimum Entitlement |
Worked for employer at least 3 months. Child is a Singapore citizen. Legally married to the child’s father. | 16 weeks |
Worked for employer at least 3 months. | 12 weeks |
