Annual Leave and Holidays

Paid Vacation / Annual Leave

An employee is entitled to 14 calendar days paid annual leave, after completion of 12 months of
continuous service. (section 49-B of Factories Act). This law does not indicate whether paid annual
leave increases with longer service/senioirty. A worker is paid his daily wages while he is on annual
leave. Factory workers are paid half of the pay due for annual leave before start of the leave. The
annual leave has to be consecutive and may not be split however if a worker fails to avail whole
leave during the 12 months, it is added to the next year. However, not more than 14 days of leave
can be carried forward.

Pay on Public Holidays

Workers are entitled to paid Festival (public and religious) holidays. Festival holidays are
announced by Ministry of Interior, Islamabad and Provincial Government at the start of calendar year
(usually 14 in number) (section 49-I of Factories Act)

Weekly Rest Days

Workers are entitled to 1 day of rest per week (24 consecutive hours). The weekly rest day is usually
Sunday. If a worker has to work on holiday; he cant be made to work consecutively for 10 days
without being given a compensatory holiday for full one day. (section 35 of Factories Act)

Regulations on Annual Leave and Holidays

Factories Act, 1934
The West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969

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Annual Leave and Working on Holidays
Do you know how many annual leave you are getting in your job? Know more about annual leave
and working on holidays policy in Pakistan at www.paycheck.pk

What is annual leave? How I become eligible for it?

Annual leave are the paid leaves (also called paid time off) granted to the employees in which an
employee is free to do whatever he/she wants to do for some days. According to law, every worker
(except for temporary and contract workerplease see details in the next question) who has
completed 12 months of continuous service has the right to be granted a fourteen (14) consecutive
days leave in the subsequent period of 12 months. It is inclusive of weekly holidays that may occur
during your leave term. The law has set the minimum level of annual leave for workers. Your
contract or collective agreement may have provision for greater number of annual leave days. These
provisions are applicable to the persons employed under Factories Act and Shops and
Establishments Ordinance/Act.

What factors lead to ineligibility for this annual paid leave?

An employee is not eligible for annual leave in the following cases:

Sickness, accident or authorized leave exceeding 90 days

Unauthorized leave (even for one day)
An illegal strike (even for one day)
Leaving employment before making an application for leave
Intermittent periods of involuntary unemployment exceeding 30 days in total

What is the admissible number of leave days under different labor laws?

As explained above, a fourteen days consecutive paid annual leave is allowed under Factories Act
and Shops and Establishments Ordinance

If you are a mineworker, your annual leave is authorized under the Mines Act. This Act provides for
one day of leave for every seventeen days of work below ground during previous 12 months and one
day of leave for every 20 days of work above ground during the previous 12 months. In any case, a
mineworker has more than fourteen days of annual leave with full wages. This leave can also be
cumulated however the Act restricts this accumulation to only 20 days. You also dont need to take
this leave as a whole and you can take it in parts, as provided under this Act.

This Newspaper Employees Act does not specifically fix the days of leave however it provides that
the earned leave should not be less than 1/11th of time spent on duty. You may also keep in mind
that weekly holidays, public holidays and authorized leave count as duty.

If you are road transport worker, you are also eligible for at least 14 days leave with full wages if you
have completed one year of continuous service. Under this Act, you are also eligible for at least 7
days paid leave on completion of six months continuous service.

Laws Earned Annual Leave

Factories Act, 1934 14 consecutive days leave

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Factories Act, 2013

Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1965 14 consecutive days leave

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shops and
Establishments Act, 2015

Mines Act, 1923 One day of leave for every seventeen days of work
below ground
One day of leave for every 20 days of work above
ground

Newspaper Employees Act, 1973 At least 1/11th of time spent on duty

Road Transport Workers Ordinance, 1961 At least 14 days leave with full pay

I am a temporary/contract worker. Am I eligible for annual leave?

Firstly, if you are a contract worker working on piece rate basis, you are not eligible for any kind of
leave. You are entitled to weekly and public holidays but without pay. By same token, you are not
eligible for annual leave.

On the other hand, if you are a temporary worker, which means that you are employed for a fixed
term of 9 months, you are not eligible for annual leave as annual leave accrues only if you have
worked continuously for 12 months. And by terms of your contract and definition of temporary worker
in the law, you cant be working in an organization continuously for the last 12 months. Other than
annual leave, you are eligible for casual, sick and other weekly and public holidays with pay.

Is this leave compulsory or can be accumulated?

The law allows for leave to be accumulated and this can be carried forward however, total number of
holidays that can be carried forward cant be greater than 14 days. In means that in total, you can
have 28 days or at most 30 days annual leave.

You can receive payment in lieu of the annual leave i.e. you can also encash this leave while being
in service.(Shops and Establishments Ordinance)

If you are discharged by your employer before you took your annual leave or you quit the
employment (after refusal from the employer to grant you leave), your employer is liable to pay you
an amount payable for those holidays.

At what rate are these annual holidays paid? Do I get my full pay?

Yes, you get your full wages. You will be paid, during the holidays, at your average daily rate of
wages for each day of vacation/annual leave. The average is taken of the wages earned by the
worker during the three months preceding the leave or holidays.
Under the Factories Act, your employer is also required to give half of the pay (due for these annual
holidays) before the start of annual holidays. You can file complaint to the labor authorities if your
employer does not meet his legal obligations and a labor inspector can help you recover your dues
from the employer. Under the Shops and Establishments Act/Ordinance, a worker who is granted
annual leave for a period of at least four days, in the case of an adult (19 years and above) and five
days in the case of a young person(15-18 years), must be paid his wages for the leave period before
the beginning of leave.

Can my employer require me to work on weekends and national holidays? Would I be paid normal
or overtime pay?

Your employer can require you to work on weekly holidays. However, he has to give you a holiday 3
days before or after the weekly holiday. Moreover, you cant be made to work for more than 10
consecutive days without being granted a holiday for one full day.

If you worked on a weekly holiday, your employer will give you a compensatory holiday as soon as
possible, but before passing of 10 days. You will be paid your normal rate of pay, if you are required
to work on weekends.

If your employer requires you to work on national/public/festival holidays, you must be given a
compensatory holiday with full pay and a substitute holiday for working on public holiday. This
means that rate of pay for working on public holidays is 300 times the rate of normal pay, which is
greater than the overtime rate of pay.

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