Singapore Leave Entitlement Guide

1. Annual Leave Entitlement

Under the Singapore Employment Act, employees who have completed at least 3 months of continuous service with an employer are legally entitled to paid annual leave. The statutory minimum starts at 7 days in the first year and increases by 1 day for each additional year of service, capped at 14 days from year 8 onwards:

• Year 1 of Service: 7 days paid annual leave
• Year 2 of Service: 8 days paid annual leave
• Year 3 of Service: 9 days paid annual leave
• Year 8+ of Service: 14 days paid annual leave (statutory cap)

Pro-rated Leave: Employees who join mid-year or leave before completing a full 12 months are entitled to pro-rated annual leave based on completed months of service.

2. Paid Sick Leave & Hospitalisation Leave

Employees who have worked for at least 3 months are entitled to paid outpatient sick leave and paid hospitalisation leave upon presenting a Medical Certificate (MC) from a registered doctor or medical practitioner:

• Paid Outpatient Sick Leave: Up to 14 days per calendar year.
• Paid Hospitalisation Leave: Up to 60 days per calendar year (inclusive of the 14 outpatient days).

Employers are required to bear the medical consultation fees for statutory sick leave if the examination is conducted by a company-appointed doctor or a government polyclinic.

3. Parental & Childcare Leave

Singapore provides strong statutory leave support for working parents under the Child Development Co-Savings Act (CDCA):

• Childcare Leave (Singapore Citizen child < 7 years): 6 days per parent per year. First 3 days employer-paid; subsequent 3 days government-funded.
• Extended Childcare Leave (Child aged 7 to 12 years): 2 days per parent per year, fully government-funded.
• Unpaid Infant Care Leave: 12 days per parent per year for children under 2 years old.

4. Maternity & Paternity Leave

Working mothers are entitled to up to 16 weeks of Government-Paid Maternity Leave (GPML) for Singapore Citizen children. Working fathers are entitled to 4 weeks of Government-Paid Paternity Leave (GPPL) to care for their newborns.

5. Public Holidays & Off-in-Lieu

Singapore gazettes 11 paid public holidays annually. If an employee is required to work on a public holiday, the employer must either:

• Pay an additional day's basic wage at the gross rate of pay.
• Or grant a full working day off-in-lieu by mutual agreement.

6. Frequently Asked Questions