Unpaid Leave

The BCEA does not provide specifically for a set entitlement to unpaid leave – an employee may, therefore, not demand to be allowed to take unpaid days off. The only mention of unpaid leave in the Act is in cases where an employee has exhausted their paid annual or sick leave entitlements, discussed in the below articles:

• Annual Leave
• Sick Leave

It is entirely at the employer’s discretion whether or not they are willing to grant an employee unpaid leave.

If unpaid leave is granted, the calculation is based on the average number of working days per period. For example, in the case of a monthly paid employee who works 5 days a week, their salary would be divided by 21.67* to calculate the amount that would be deducted for every day of unpaid leave.

*21.67 = 52 weeks x 5 days per week / 12 months