Annual Leave and Holidays

This page was last updated on: 2023-08-15

Paid Vacation / Annual Leave

An employee is entitled to 14 calendar days paid annual leave, after completion of 12 months of continuous service. (section 49-B of Factories Act). This law does not indicate whether paid annual leave increases with longer service/senioirty. A worker is paid his daily wages while he is on annual leave. Factory workers are paid half of the pay due for annual leave before start of the leave. The annual leave has to be consecutive and may not be split however if a worker fails to avail whole leave during the 12 months, it is added to the next year. However, not more than 14 days of leave can be carried forward. 

For detailed information on annual leave, please refer to the following page.

Annual Leave and Working on Holidays 

Pay on Public Holidays

Workers are entitled to paid Festival (public and religious) holidays. Festival holidays are announced by Ministry of Interior, Islamabad and Provincial Government at the start of calendar year (usually 14 in number) (section 49-I of Factories Act).

The Public holidays can be divided in religious and memorial holidays. The dates of Muslim religious festivals are subject to appearance of moon and change every year. The religious holidays are Eid Milad-un-Nabi-12 Rabi ul Awwal, Eid ul Fitr-Shawwal 01-03, Eid ul Azha-Zil Haj 10, Ashura-Moharram 9 & 10. The memorial holidays are Kashmir Day (February 5), Pakistan Day (March 23), Labour Day (May 01), Independence Day (August 14), Iqbal Day (November 09), Quaid-e-Azam Day/Christmas (December 25). The day after Christmas (December 26) is also a public holiday, however for Christians only. There are nearly 22 optional holidays (for Muslims and other religious communities including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and others).

For detailed information on public holidays during 2018, please refer to the following page. 

Weekly Rest Days and Public Holidays 

Weekly Rest Days

Workers are entitled to 1 day of rest per week (24 consecutive hours). The weekly rest day is usually Sunday. If a worker has to work on holiday; he can’t be made to work consecutively for 10 days without being given a compensatory holiday for full one day. (section 35 of Factories Act)

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