Regulations on Paid Annual Leave of Employees

Published: December 14, 2007

Decree of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

No. 514

The Regulation on Paid Annual Leave of Employees, which was adopted at the 198th executive meeting of the State Council on December 7, 2007, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of January 1, 2008.

Premier Wen Jiabao

December 14, 2007

　Regulations on Paid Annual Leave of Employees

Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Labor Law and the Civil Service Law in order to safeguard the rights of employees to rest and vacation and mobilize their enthusiasm for work.

Article 2 Employees of government agencies, organizations, enterprises, institutions, private non-enterprise units, individual industrial and commercial households with employees and other units who have worked continuously for more than one year shall enjoy paid annual leave (hereinafter referred to as annual leave). The unit shall ensure that employees enjoy annual leave. During the annual leave, employees enjoy the same wage income as during normal work.

Article 3 If the employee has worked for 1 year but less than 10 years, the annual leave shall be 5 days; if the employee has worked for 10 years but less than 20 years, the annual leave shall be 10 days; if the employee has worked for 20 years, the annual leave shall be 15 days.

National statutory holidays and rest days are not included in the annual leave.

Article 4 An employee shall not enjoy the annual leave of the current year under any of the following circumstances:

(I) employees enjoy winter and summer vacations in accordance with the law, and their vacation days are more than the annual vacation days;

(II) employees take personal leave for a total of more than 20 days and the unit does not deduct wages in accordance with the provisions;

(III) employees who have worked for 1 year but less than 10 years have taken sick leave for more than 2 months;

(IV) employees who have worked for 10 years but less than 20 years have taken sick leave for more than 3 months;

(V) employees who have worked for more than 20 years have taken sick leave for more than 4 months.

Article 5 The unit shall, in accordance with the specific conditions of production and work, and taking into account the wishes of the employees themselves, make overall arrangements for the annual leave of the employees.

Annual leave can be arranged centrally or in sections within one year, and is generally not arranged across years. If it is really necessary for the unit to arrange annual leave for employees across years due to production and work characteristics, it can be arranged across one year.

If the unit is indeed unable to arrange for employees to take annual leave due to work needs, it may not arrange for employees to take annual leave with the consent of the employees themselves. For the number of days of annual leave that an employee should take, the unit shall pay 300 per cent of the employee's daily wage income for the annual leave.

Article 6 The personnel departments and labor security departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with their functions and powers, take the initiative to supervise and inspect the implementation of these Regulations by their units.

Trade union organizations safeguard the rights of employees to annual leave in accordance with the law.

Article 7 If a unit does not arrange for employees to take annual leave and does not give annual leave wages in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, the personnel department or labor security department of the local people's government at or above the county level shall order it to make corrections within a time limit according to its functions and powers; if it fails to make corrections within the time limit, in addition to ordering the unit to pay annual leave wages and remuneration, the unit shall also pay compensation to the employees according to the amount of annual leave, if it belongs to the unit where the civil servants and the personnel managed by reference to the civil servant law belong, the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be punished according to law; if it belongs to other units, the labor security department, personnel department or employee shall apply to the people's court for compulsory enforcement.

Article 8 Disputes between employees and their units over annual leave shall be handled in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations of the State.

Article 9 The personnel department of the State Council and the labor and social security department of the State Council shall, according to their functions and powers, respectively formulate measures for the implementation of these Regulations.

Article 10 These Regulations shall enter into force as of January 1, 2008.