Leave Entitlements in Kenya: What Employers Actually Owe

Few things sour a good team faster than a leave dispute, and most of them are avoidable. A surprising number of Kenyan businesses still run leave on memory and goodwill rather than on the law, which works fine right up until it doesn't. So let's clear up what your employees are actually entitled to.

Annual leave: 21 working days, not calendar days

Under the Employment Act 2007, every employee earns at least 21 working days of paid annual leave after 12 consecutive months with you. "Working days" matters, weekends and public holidays don't eat into it. If someone leaves before completing a full year, they're owed leave on a pro-rata basis for the months they worked. Many employers also allow a portion to be carried forward; that's good practice, but put the rule in writing so it's consistent.

Sick leave: the bit most employers underpay

Here's where it gets interesting. Section 30 of the Act gives an employee, after two months of service, at least seven days of sick leave on full pay and a further seven days on half pay in each 12-month period, on production of a medical certificate. But the Regulation of Wages (General) Order sets a more generous standard, 30 days full pay and 15 days half pay, and where the more favourable terms apply, they win. In practice, many employers should be offering more sick leave than the bare Act suggests. This is exactly the kind of detail that trips people up.

Maternity and paternity leave

Mothers get three months (90 days) of fully paid maternity leave; fathers get two weeks (14 days) of paid paternity leave, and crucially, maternity leave is on top of annual leave, not carved out of it. We cover the detail and the common mistakes in our guide to maternity and paternity leave in Kenya.

The mistakes we see again and again

• Deducting maternity leave from annual leave (unlawful).
• Treating sick leave as a favour rather than an entitlement, or applying the bare 7+7 when the more generous terms apply.
• Keeping no leave records, so balances become an argument.
• Forgetting to pay out accrued leave when someone exits.

The fix is boring (and that's the point)

A one-page leave policy and a simple leave tracker prevent almost every dispute on this list. Get the policy right with our HR policies service, make sure it's reflected in your employment contracts, and if you'd rather hand the whole thing off, our people operations team tracks leave for you.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources: Kenya Law (employment statutes).

Disclaimer: This article is general guidance for educational purposes and is not legal or tax advice. Statutory rates and requirements change. For advice specific to your organisation, speak to a qualified HR, legal or tax professional.