Annual Leave Singapore 2026: Entitlement and Your Rights

Under Singapore's Employment Act, employees are entitled to 7 to 14 days of paid annual leave per year, depending on years of service. Since the 2019 amendments removed the salary cap, this entitlement now covers all employees — including PMETs — provided you have completed 3 months of continuous service. This guide explains the entitlement table, pro-rating, encashment, public holidays, and what to do if your employer denies you leave.

Statutory Annual Leave Entitlement

These are statutory minimums. Most PMET contracts in Singapore offer 14–21 days from day one, and senior roles often start at 18–25 days. The Employment Act floor is the legal backstop, not the market norm.

Eligibility

You qualify for paid annual leave if you:

• Are an employee under a contract of service (not a contractor or self-employed)
• Have completed at least 3 months of continuous service with the same employer
• Are not in an excluded category (domestic workers, seafarers, statutory board officers)

Probationary employees accumulate leave from day one but typically can only utilise it after the 3-month qualifying period, depending on company policy.

Pro-Rated Annual Leave

If you join mid-year, leave is pro-rated by completed months of service:

Formula: (annual entitlement × completed months) ÷ 12, rounded to the nearest half-day.

Example: You join on 1 April 2026 and the leave year ends 31 December 2026. You have completed 9 months by year-end.

• Year 1 entitlement: 7 days
• Pro-rated leave: (7 × 9) ÷ 12 = 5.25 days, typically rounded to 5 or 5.5 days per the company handbook

The same rule applies on resignation: if you leave mid-year, you receive a pro-rated portion of the year's entitlement.

How Leave Accrues

Most Singapore employers operate a monthly accrual model. For an employee in Year 1 (7 days entitlement), monthly accrual is 7 ÷ 12 ≈ 0.583 days per month. By the end of June you would have accrued roughly 3.5 days. Some employers grant the full year's leave upfront on 1 January for administrative simplicity.

Carry-Forward Rules

The Employment Act does not require carry-forward of unused leave — but it permits it. In practice:

• Most employers allow carry-forward of 5–7 days to the following year, with a "use-it-or-lose-it" rule on the rest.
• Some employers allow up to 1 year of carry-forward before forfeiture.
• A handful of employers permit unlimited accrual but cap the encashment payout on resignation.

The exact policy must be in your employment contract or handbook. If silent, the default position is that unused leave at year-end may be forfeited.

Advance Leave

Many employers allow you to take leave before it is earned within the calendar year — for example, taking 7 days in March of Year 1. The unearned portion is offset against future months' accrual. If you resign before fully earning back the advance leave, the excess can be deducted from your final pay (only if your contract states this clearly).

Leave Encashment

When you resign or are terminated, the Employment Act requires your employer to pay out earned but unused annual leave at the gross daily rate of pay.

Daily rate formula: gross monthly salary × 12 ÷ 52 ÷ working days per week.

Worked example: Monthly salary $5,200, 5-day work week, 8 unused days.

• Daily rate = $5,200 × 12 / 52 / 5 = $240
• Encashment = $240 × 8 = $1,920 (subject to CPF where applicable)

Encashment of leave during continued employment (i.e., selling unused leave back for cash without resigning) is at employer discretion and often prohibited.

Sick Leave vs Annual Leave

If you fall ill while on approved annual leave, the days covered by a valid Medical Certificate (MC) can typically be converted to sick leave, returning the equivalent annual leave days to your balance. This is at the employer's discretion in some companies but is best practice in most. You will need to inform HR within the leave period and produce the MC promptly.

Public Holidays

Public holidays are separate from annual leave and not deducted from your balance. Singapore has 11 gazetted public holidays in 2026. If a public holiday falls on a non-working day (rest day or non-working Saturday), you are entitled to a substitute holiday on the next working day, or extra pay at gross rate, depending on company practice.

If you work on a public holiday, you are entitled to either:

• An extra day's salary at the gross rate of pay, or
• A substitute day off (typically agreed in advance with employer)

Shift workers have additional rules under the Employment Act for public holidays falling on rest days.

Other Statutory Leave Types (Separate from Annual Leave)

Regional Comparison

Singapore's statutory floor is on the lower end for the region but is typically supplemented by employer policies and 11 public holidays.

Can Your Employer Refuse Leave?

Your employer can:

• Require advance notice (typically 1–2 weeks)
• Postpone the timing for legitimate business reasons (peak season, project deadlines)
• Direct you to take leave during a company shutdown

Your employer cannot:

• Refuse all annual leave outright
• Cancel previously approved leave without good cause
• Terminate you for taking your statutory entitlement
• Force you to forgo encashment of earned leave on resignation

Practical Tips

Plan leave around year-end. If your company has a strict use-it-or-lose-it policy with no carry-forward, schedule leave by November to avoid forfeiture in the final weeks.

Document leave approvals in writing. Verbal approvals are common but vulnerable. Always confirm via email or HR system to protect against later disputes.

Read your contract carefully. Carry-forward, encashment and advance leave rules are highly contract-specific. The Employment Act sets the floor, not the ceiling.

Bottom Line

Singapore's 7–14 day annual leave statutory entitlement is the legal minimum for almost every employee — including PMETs since the 2019 reforms. Layered with 11 public holidays, sick leave, and family leave types, the total paid time off available to a typical Singapore worker is meaningful, even if the headline number trails Australia or the UK.

Use the Annual Leave Calculator to compute your pro-rated leave for the current year.