Annual leave is a common employment benefit and part of an employee’s expected employment package. For employers, managing annual leaves must go beyond implementing a common practice – as there are rules and regulations governing annual leave entitlements.
Here’s what every employer needs to know about annual leave entitlements in Singapore.
Read Also: 17 Types of Leaves Offered By Singapore Companies (Statutory And Non-Statutory)
Annual Leave Entitlements Are Mandatory Under Singapore’s Employment Act
In Singapore, annual leave entitlements are covered under the Employment Act.
All employees (local or foreign) working under a contract of service with an employer are covered by the Employment Act and are entitled to annual leaves. This includes employees hired on full-time, part-time, temporary or contract basis.
However, domestic workers, statutory board employees, civil servants and seafarers are not covered by the Employment Act. Instead, their leave entitlements are subject to the terms and conditions of their employment contracts.
Read Also: Singapore Employment Act: 10 Statutory Requirements To Pay Employees
Minimum Annual Leave Entitlements Depend On The Years Of Service
Employees are entitled to annual leave if they have worked for a minimum of 3 months. The minimum number of annual leave is 7 days. This increases by an additional day for every completed year of service with the employer, to a maximum of 14 days.
| Year of service | Days of leave |
| 1st | 7 |
| 2nd | 8 |
| 3rd | 9 |
| 4th | 10 |
| 5th | 11 |
| 6th | 12 |
| 7th | 13 |
| 8th and thereafter | 14 |
Do note that this is the statutory minimum requirement and employers may decide to offer more days of annual leave as part of employment benefits. This will be in the employment contract.
Read Also: Minimum Requirements For Key Employment Terms (KETs) On Employees Contracts
Annual Leaves Can Be Pro-Rated
For partial years of service, the annual leave entitlements are pro-rated by the number of completed months. The year(s) of service start from the employee’s first official working day with the company.
Additionally, the periods of approved unpaid leave should be excluded when calculating annual leave entitlements.
If the employee is serving notice, the notice period is included when calculating the pro-rated annual leave.
Calculation for Pro-rated Annual Leave
Employers can calculate the pro-rated annual leave entitlements for their employees using this formula:
(Number of completed months of service ÷ 12 months) × Number of days of annual leave entitlement)
If the computed figure is less than 0.5, it is rounded down. If it is 0.5 or more, it is rounded up to one day.
For example, if an employee has worked 6 months, he or she is entitled to 4 days of annual leave. The annual leave is pro-rated by half (6 months out of 12 months) and rounded up to one day. This applies even if the employee is still on probation.
If the employee has not completed the month of service, the partial period is disregarded. For example, if the employee started work on 1 January 2025 and left service on 15 July 2025, the number of completed months of service is 6 months. The period from 1 to 15 July is disregarded as it is not a completed month.
Read Also: How To Calculate Leave Encashment Or Salary-In-Lieu Of Notice Period For Your Employees
Annual Leave On Longer Or Shorter Days Of Work
Typically, the standard working hours are up to 9 hours per day for work-week of 5 days or less or up to 8 hours per day for work-week of more than 5 days.
If the employee’s work shift is longer than 8 hours, 1 day of annual leave is equivalent to the actual working day. For example, 1 day of leave for an employee who works 12-hour shifts is equivalent to 12 hours.
On the other hand, if the leave is taken on a half working day, the annual leave consumed is considered a full-day’s leave. However, employers have the right to treat it as a half-day’s day if they choose to implement a half-day leave policy.
Unused Annual Leave Can Be Carried Forward To The Next 12 Months
According to MOM, employers must allow employees to carry forward any unused annual leave to the next 12 months if the employee is covered under Part IV of the Employment Act (i.e. a workman earning up to $4,500 a month, or non-workman earning up to $2,600 a month). If the number of unused annual leave days exceeds the statutory entitlements (i.e., 7 to 14 days), the leave treatment is determined by the employer as stated in the employment contract. This may be carried forward as well, or can be encashed or forfeited.
If the employee is not covered under Part IV of the Employment Act, there is no requirement for the employer to carry forward the unused annual leave. Instead, the employer may determine whether to encash, carry forward or forfeit the unused annual leave as stated in the employment contract.
The statutory annual leave entitlements can be forfeited if an employee is absent from work without permission or reasonable excuse for more than 20% of the working days in a month or year or was dismissed on the grounds of misconduct.
Employees Who Exceed The Annual Leave Entitlement
In general, employees must apply for unpaid leave if they are not eligible for paid annual leave or have used up their annual leave entitlements. They would have to seek approval from the employer for these days of unpaid leave since unpaid leaves are not statutory entitlements.
If the employee takes more days of paid annual leave than they are entitled to, the excess leave is treated as unpaid leave. The employer may deduct the salary accordingly.
If an employee was absent from work for more than 2 working days continuously without approval, they are considered as having breached their employment contract. The employer is not required to encash their annual leave, instead the employee should pay salary in-lieu of notice to the employer.
Employers Have The Choice To Offer More Than The Statutory Minimum Requirements
While annual leave entitlements have statutory requirements, employers have the liberty to offer more than the minimum statutory requirements. In fact, many employers offer leave policies that are more generous than what is required by the Employment Act as part of their employee benefits.
This is part of an employee’s overall package, and can be a reason for employees to choose to work with a particular employer.
Here’s a handy infographic that summarises what you need to know about annual leave entitlements:
Subscribe To The DollarsAndSense Business Pass
Enjoy what you are reading and want more? Join The DollarsAndSense Business Pass and unlock access to valuable tools, exclusive networking opportunities, and tap into the wisdom of industry experts to fuel your business expansion!
