· Built around the Sick leave calculator
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Two leave questions come up every year around now: "do I have enough leave for December?" and "is this sick day still paid?" Both have exact answers in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), and both are easy to get wrong because the Act counts in cycles, not calendar years. This post works through them with the sick leave, leave accrual and leave pay calculators.
Run your own numbers
The calculator starts on the example: a 5-day week, 18 months with this employer, 4 sick days taken, R25 000 a month. Type your own.
Checked against the Act
No government department publishes a worked leave example with numbers, so CalcSA checked each calculator against the rules in the Act itself, applied step by step:
- Sick leave: the days you normally work in 6 weeks, in every 36-month cycle - 30 on a 5-day week, 36 on a 6-day week - BCEA s22(1)-(2). Our sick leave calculator gives 6 x 5 = 30 and 6 x 6 = 36.
- First six months: 1 day of paid sick leave for every 26 days worked - BCEA s22(3). 4 months x 5 days x 52 / 12 = 86.7 days worked, / 26 = 3.3, so 3 days. Our calculator gives 3.
- Annual leave: 21 consecutive days a cycle - 15 working days on a 5-day week - or by agreement 1 day for every 17 worked - BCEA s20(2). Our leave accrual calculator gives 15 x 7 / 12 = 8.75 days and 151.7 / 17 = 8.9 days after 7 months.
- Leave pay on leaving: unused leave is paid out, with the 1-in-17 rule as the floor in a part year - BCEA s40. Our leave pay calculator gives 4.92 days x R1 153.85 = R5 678.73.
Not verified from a primary source: the BCEA was read as first published (Act 75 of 1997, gov.za); later amendments to sections 20, 22 and 40 were not re-checked for this post. Your contract or a bargaining council agreement may give more leave - never less.
Worked example 1: sick leave 18 months in
- Cycle: 36 months from the day you started. At 18 months you are halfway through your first cycle (sick leave calculator).
- Entitlement: 30 days for the whole cycle, taken 4, so 26 left. They do not build up month by month - all 30 are there from month seven.
- A sick day pays your normal day's wage: R25 000 x 3 / 13 / 5 = R1 153.85. 3 / 13 turns a monthly salary into a weekly one.
- The 26 days left are worth R30 000 - but only while you are sick. Unused sick leave is not carried into the next cycle and is not paid out when you leave.
- Off more than 2 days in a row, or on more than 2 occasions in 8 weeks? Your employer may ask for a medical certificate (s23) before paying.
Worked example 2: a new starter
- Four months in on a 5-day week: about 86.7 days worked, so 3 paid sick days - 1 for every 26 worked.
- On a 6-day week the same four months is 104 days worked - 4 sick days.
- From month seven the full 30 days apply, less whatever you took in the first six months.
- Sick beyond your days? The extra is unpaid, or taken from annual leave if you and your employer agree.
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Worked example 3: annual leave before December
- 15 days a year builds up at 1.25 days a month - a twelfth of the year's leave (leave accrual calculator).
- Seven months into the cycle: 8.75 days built up. Taken 4, so 4.75 left. Not enough for a two-week December shutdown - the rest is leave in advance or unpaid.
- By the 1-in-17 rule: 151.7 days worked / 17 = 8.9 days - slightly more, because a month has more than 17 x 1.25 working days.
- Resign now and the unused days are paid out: 4.92 days x R1 153.85 = R5 678.73 on R25 000 a month (leave pay calculator). It is taxed as normal pay.
- Leave from the old cycle must be granted within six months after it ends (s20(4)) - ask before it lapses under your company's policy.
What to do this week
- Ask payroll for your leave balance and your cycle start dates - sick and annual leave run on different cycles.
- Short of days for December? Agree advance or unpaid leave in writing now, before the shutdown roster is out.
- Leaving a job? Check the final payslip for leave pay and the notice period you owe.
Sources
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997, s20 (annual leave), s22-23 (sick leave, medical certificates), s35 (wage for a day), s40 (payments on termination): gov.za, read by CalcSA 15-16 October 2026.
- Department of Employment and Labour, Basic Conditions of Employment guidance: labour.gov.za. Leave pages not re-read for this post.
Calculators used in this post
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