In accordance with Section 211 of the Labour Code, the employer is entitled to determine each employee’s leave schedule so that leave is used up in the calendar year in which the employee’s leave entitlement arose. Leave may be carried forward if the employer cannot or could not grant leave due to impediments to perform work on the employee’s part, or due to urgent operational reasons.
The amended Labour Code, effective from January 2021, introduced the option for employees to carry their leave over to the following year upon a written request made by an employee. Up to two weeks of leave may be carried over, expressed as a number of hours. This must be leave to which entitlement arose during this year. When considering this request, the employer must take the legitimate interests of the employee into account.
We have prepared for our employees a template of a request to carry leave forward, which is a template we recommend. A request can also be made by other provable methods, such as via email in which employees can ask their direct supervisors to carry their leave forward in compliance with the Labour Code.
Leave entitlement exceeding two weeks, expressed as a number of hours, must also be dealt with and the employer must give reasons as to why the leave has not been used up – whether leave could not be used up either due to urgent operational reasons, or impediments to perform work on the employee’s part, or both. The direct supervisor of an employee who has requested to carry leave exceeding two weeks forward must be prepared to justify the impossibility of using (up) their employee’s leave, upon a request made by the HRMO, or by the employer’s authority.
What you can do if you have unused leave at the end of the year and you wish to take it