What Does The Kenyan Law Say About Leave Days?

By Selipha Kihagi

How much or little do you know about taking leave from work? Does your employer follow the Kenyan employment law when it comes to handling your leave days? With the large number of frustrated unemployed Kenyans, most people are too grateful for their jobs that they do not pay attention to what is right and what is wrong. Most will suffer under the hands of an employer and not raise questions because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

Sad as it may seem, employees need to know their rights and call an employer to a mistake when they have been treated unlawfully. Recently, a lady wrote to us that her employer had deducted money from her salary to cover the 10 days she had taken leave that month. Frustrated, she needed to know if this action was fair in the eyes of the law. I would believe she is not alone in this; most of you have probably been through this but did not raise a finger.

So, to answer the lady’s question and inform any other person conflicted with this matter, here is what you should know about leave days.

What The Kenyan Law Says About Leave Days

1. Every employee is entitled to not less than 21 days of leave every 1 year

If you have worked more than a year with your current employer but have not taken or exhausted your 21 days of leave, you need to have received a fatter paycheck than usual. This is because you worked even the days you were supposed to be off work, which can be translated as working overtime.

For those who are yet to have completed 1 year (12 months) of service, you can count one and three quarter days for every month you have worked as your leave days. For instance, if you have worked 8 months, you are entitled to 14 days of paid leave and so on.

2. Public holidays and sick off days do not count as leave days

Your employer has probably counted the days you were off sick as part of your leave days. Well, if this has happened to you or someone you know, this is unlawful according to the Kenyan employment act. According to the Act, annual leave is offered in addition to any sick leave, public holidays or weekly rest days.

And talking about weekly rest days, every employee is entitled to one full day (24 hours) of rest in every 7 days. As an employee, you can agree with your employer not to take the rest days and accumulate them as leave for a later date, but only to maximum of 14 days. So if you work day in day out week after week, your employer is breaking the law and you need to address that particular issue.

3. Female employees are entitled to three months paid maternity leave

Maternity leave has always been an issue in Kenya, with some employers making it a reason to lay off, let go and even not hire pregnant women or those who expect to have babies soon. Some will even go further to ask if you plan to have any children during the job interview. Rude and insensitive as this may seem, it does happen.

However, the Kenyan law has amended its provisions in favour of female employees to give 3 months of fully paid leave to any employee who gives notice of at least 7 days in advance. After the three months, an employee is entitled to return to her job or other suitable job. Male employees get a paternity leave of two weeks, also fully paid.

4. An employee is entitled to 7 days of fully paid sick leave

Did you not get paid for the days you were off from work sick? Did your employer deduct money equivalent to the days you were off work? If this happened, even after showing evidence that you were incapable of being productive on those specific days, then your employer violated your employee rights according to the Kenya employment act.

Every employee who has worked two consecutive months is entitled to not less than 7 days leave with full pay.

Has this answered any questions you had on leave days? Do you have further questions on the same? Leave a comment below.

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56 Comments

  1. If your working half a day on a Saturday should it be included as a full day in your leave days or count two Saturdays to make one whole day kindly advise.

  2. Does this apply to teachers as well? considering the have April, August and December leave.

  3. For how long can you accumulate leave days without having to forfeit them?

  4. Thanks for this but I have questions what if u did not take all your leave days for a particular year ar they suppose tobe carried forward nxt year

  5. helo! am a teacher employed by board of management in a secondary school! i have never had any rest apart from holidays in every successful years i have in the school,(2013-upto date) how much has this school denied me? or is it for Tsc teachers only?

  6. how many sick off days an employee is entitled to before summary dismissal on health grounds?

  7. mine is a different issue. plz advice. At work
    we are not allowed to have our phones even in our pockets, you are suppost to leave it at the customer care and if you are found with it the manager takes it and can stay with it for as long as he wants. it can be days, weeks or months. Is this right? , is it legal? plz advice

  8. Thank you very much for this advice. Supposing you have a sick sibling with you, how should this one be treated? I was deducted one-day salary for attending to my sick sister after working for this employer for more than 8 months.

  9. My name is Anthony. My story looks quite the same such that I’ve worked for a certain company for 11 months down the line without leave,sick leave and my off days accumulated to 25 days. I have savings in their Sacco amounting to Kshs 10000.
    After feeling much fatigue,lose of morale, i wrote them a one month resignation notice of which after the lapse of which, I’ll quit.
    In their resignation acceptance letter they had stated that come the end of that month, I’ll have to surrender all the company property in my custody and they’ll pay me then.
    I did everything on my part and now i requested for my cheque as i had cleared with them. The HR with madharau, told me that I’ll be paid after 3 months. I was heart broken, disappointed.
    Please, what and where can i do and go respectively?

  10. Referring to item no. 4 – if an employee has taken more than 7 days agrregate through out the whole year, how should the rest be treated? As part of the annual leave or deduct from salary?

  11. Comment How about having an expectant mother and she looses pregnancy at 5 months is the husband suppose to get paternity leave even if he had not informed the employer about his intention to go on paternity leave.

  12. Is it enough for an employee to produce any sick sheet as evidence of sickness. Are there particular hospitals that are recommended for employees to go to?
    I’m asking this because I have received several fake sick sheets from employees who absent themselves from work and expect to be accepted back with flowers, get well cards and chocolates. Most of these sick sheets are signed by medical practitioners who are not registered by their respective professional bodies.

  13. Thanku so much for this message,,and if i may ask what can employees do if the employer does not recognize leave, off days or even public holidays?kindly advise,,

  14. On the matter of sick leave, the Employment Act provides for minimum entitlements of 7 days with full pay and 7 days with half pay after two months consecutive service with an employer. However, there is a Legal Notice No.120/82 which enhanced the sick leave days to 30 days with full pay and 15 days with half pay.

  15. On the matter of sick leave, the Employment Act provides for minimum entitlements of 7 days with full pay and 7 days with half after two months consecutive service with an employer. However, there is a Legal Notice No.120/82 which enhanced the sick leave days to 30 days with full pay and 15 days with half pay.

  16. The 7 days sick leave, are they annual or every consecutive 2 months of work?

  17. if a woman proceeds on maternity and looses the babby after delivery. will she still be entitle for 3 months maternity leave?

  18. Is one entitled to pay if sick leave exceeds seven days? what is the maximum sick leave with full pay?

  19. Its a very enlightening information.
    However i would like to know whether i am also entitle for annual leave if i am persuing distance learning and at the same time working

  20. what does the law say about leave taken to attend to sick children less than 10 years old?

  21. Thanks for that insight, my question is how do you calculate the annual leave days an employee is entitled if you have worked less than 12months? For the above example given if worked for 8months,how do you arrive at 14days leave?

  22. Thank you, that was insightful.
    I believe most employees are taken for a ride especially in small companies
    I had an employer who declared 3 weeks holiday in December, & then refused to allow anyone any leave whatsoever!come the new year!never mind we never consented to the 3 weeks, as he mumbled about the ‘holiday’as he ran out of the office!
    What is actual payment/leave entitled for working Saturday 9am-1pm?the employer ‘pretends’this is normal .

  23. Where i work,in a sub-county hospital,some casuals have one and some have two days off(weekend) depending on the department youre in. When we ask about leave the HR claims we are only entitled to the off days,nothing more. is this within the law?

  24. It is said that a new employee should not seek for leave until one year of 12 months comes to an end. Are leaves in effect from the day you get appointed? Can one ask for it, say 4 months after working with a new employer?

  25. I do not agree with the explanation that if you do not take your leave days then you are entitled to a fatter paycheck and that it is overtime. What Selipha has written is very general and there are very pertinent issues that arise on leave leading to court battles between employees and employers. No of days taken or entitled is never the issue because it simple mathematics.

  26. What of employees who are dismissed/resign and have leave days yet to take? Within what time frame after dismissal are they supposed to receive a check for the unpaid leave days and what are the legal implications if the employer does not meet this obligation?

  27. Hi i need to know if an employer by law is allowed to deduct from an employee’s salary a debt owed to the company after that company decided to close one of its branches.

  28. If public holidays fall during your maternity leave are they valid or forfeited?

  29. Do leave days expire? an employer once told me that my leave days of a previous year expired on March, so i wonder instead of expiring why not get paid since you worked for days u were supposed to be resting!
    kindly inform

  30. Are employees suppose to get leave allowances?
    How are you suppose to treat an employee who worked on holidays?
    What are the standard working hours and how are the excess worked hours suppose to be treated during or before leave?

  31. Hi am a victim of all that you have enlightened there. well, I worked in a private company for 2years and 5months I. e from Jan 2014-May 2014, when I got pregnant i was fired at 5months without any backdated dues. I was only paid my end month salary. The company has a tendency of firing female employees whenever they get pregnant. Infact I was even warned by other male employees that I will be fired if am pregnant and also I cannot go back to work. The company never pays people their dues. Again they don’t hire according to qualifications that one has. when you get there you are trained internally again in the everything by other employees that you are supposed to know everything invade someone leaves. Hiring and firing is the order of the day without any notice. So, the employees live and work in fear of when will I get fired. Infact the company owner who is also the c. e. o believes and also says he has money and can hire and fire as he wishes forgetting good employees are assets to the company. The company is like a training school.

  32. Wow, such a wake up call article. I really had no clue on this. Thanks CSS for your good work.

  33. how do you address the issue of fixed term contract employees e.g those who are hired for 6months or one year, are they also entitled to earn leave?

  34. Your comments above are insightful but i would be keen in knowing if the deducted days had been authorized as i doubt that in this day and age one would just decide not to pay an employee for taking leave. I foresee a situation where the lady might have taken leave without proper authorization hence the days were perceived as unpaid leave.

  35. have worked for a private company for four years without any contract letter neither pay slip or anything can show if i was working with him. he took andvandage of that and began to have poor payment and breached the agreement of comision that we agreed. so he began to deduct 16% of my comision claiming that is vat. so I decided to quit the job but he denied me a salary of one month claiming that is for the company together with all my comisions.
    my question is that was what he was doing rightfully to be done and if not how can I axses my money from him.
    kindly help me on that and if I can access your office the better for me.

  36. Morning, kindly prepare and post a list of questions and possible answers for a finance or chief accountant interview

  37. Can an employee forfeit leave days where s/he has not complied with an employer policy on leave? In a case such as that will the employer’s policy be superior to the labour laws?

  38. Thanks for the insight. Kindly may i ask, if i go for maternity leave (3 months) am i also entitled to an annual leave the same year?

  39. There is no length of work to qualify for a maternity leave. As long as you have signed a contract with a company either temporally or permanent.
    A female employee is lawfully entitled to maternity leave as long as the contract is valid.

  40. Still on leave days, for those working half day on Saturdays, is Saturday counted as full or half day?

  41. I have never seen a sample cover letter and cv for medical professionals, please post one for us

  42. For how long should a female employees work so as to earn a maternity leave, I was employed in a certain hospital and told l could only earn a maternity leave after l worked for them for two years. Is this right?

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