Every year, thousands of Sri Lankan employees give up leave they were legally entitled to — usually because nobody ever showed them the actual numbers. If you work in a shop or office (which covers most private-sector jobs, from banks to software companies), the Shop and Office Employees Act sets your floor. Here it is, in one table:
| Leave type | Days per year | Who qualifies | Carry-over? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual leave | 14 (7 must be consecutive) | Everyone from your second year; first year is pro-rated by joining date | Taken in the following year; no general carry-forward beyond that |
| Casual leave | 7 | Everyone; first year accrues at 1 day per 2 completed months | No — lapses at year end |
| Sick leave | — | Not a separate statutory category — illness comes out of casual leave (or company policy) | — |
| Weekly holiday | 1 full + 1 half day per week | Paid if you worked at least 28 hours that week | Must be given in the following week if missed |
| Poya days | Every full-moon day | All shop & office employees; 1.5× pay if worked | — |
| Mercantile holidays | 8 | All shop & office employees; double pay or a day in lieu if worked | Lieu day must be given by 31 December |
Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No. 19 of 1954, as amended. Factory workers are covered by different instruments (Wages Boards decisions), which often differ.
Annual leave: 14 days — but read the first-year rule
From your second year of employment onward, you earn 14 days of paid annual leave per year, and at least 7 of them must be available as one consecutive block. The wrinkle almost nobody explains: leave earned in one year is taken in the following year, on dates agreed between you and your employer.
Your first calendar year is pro-rated by when you joined:
- Joined January–March → 14 days (taken the next year)
- Joined April–June → 10 days
- Joined July–September → 7 days
- Joined October–December → 4 days
Casual leave: your 7 flexible days
Casual leave is the Act’s all-purpose allowance: 7 days a year with full pay, usable for “private business, ill health or other reasonable cause”. In your first year it accrues gradually — one day for every two completed months. It doesn’t carry over; if you don’t use it, it lapses.
The sick leave surprise
There is no separate statutory sick leave for shop and office employees. When you’re ill, the Act expects you to draw on those same 7 casual days. Many employers grant additional paid sick leave (often 7–21 days) through contracts or company policy — genuinely valuable, but a benefit, not a legal right. Check your letter of appointment to see which side of the line your “sick leave” falls on.
What is lieu leave?
“Lieu leave” is the paid day off you get in place of a holiday you were made to work. The Act builds it in two places:
- Mercantile holidays: if you’re required to work one of the eight statutory holidays, your employer must either pay at least double your daily rate, or pay you normally and give you a paid holiday in lieu before 31 December of the same year.
- Weekly holidays: if you miss your weekly holiday, it must be allowed within the following week.
Poya days work differently — working one earns at least 1.5× pay, with no lieu-day alternative prescribed. See the full picture of which days count on our 2026 mercantile and public holidays list.
Can unused leave be carried forward or encashed?
The Act has no general carry-forward or encashment scheme — annual leave is meant to be rested, not banked. The one moment leave converts to money is when you resign or are terminated: you must be allowed to take (or be paid for) the untaken annual leave you earned last year, plus a pro-rated entitlement for your final year — one day per completed month of service, or the full 14 if you’ve worked ten months or more of it. If your notice period is too short to take the days, your employer owes you the pay instead.
Anything more generous — carrying five days into next year, encashing at year-end — is company policy, and perfectly legal as a top-up. The Act is the floor, never the ceiling.
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14 days with full pay from your second year of employment, of which at least 7 must be consecutive — under the Shop and Office Employees Act. For the year you join, it's pro-rated: 14 days if you joined January–March, 10 for April–June, 7 for July–September and 4 for October–December, taken in the following year. On top of that you get 7 days of casual leave, weekly holidays, Poya days and 8 mercantile holidays.
A paid day off given 'in lieu' (in place) of a holiday you were required to work. If you work one of the eight statutory mercantile holidays, your employer must either pay double your daily rate or give you a paid substitute holiday before 31 December of that year. A missed weekly holiday must be allowed within the following week. It is not a separate annual quota — it only arises when you actually work a holiday.
Not as a general rule — the Act has no carry-forward or year-end encashment provision, so anything like that comes from company policy. The statutory exception is when you leave the job: you must get (or be paid for) last year's untaken annual leave plus a pro-rated entitlement for your final year — one day per completed month, or the full 14 days if you served ten months or more of it.