The Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No 19 of 1954 (as amended) “SOEA” provides for holiday and leave entitlements of shop and office employees in Sri Lanka. The SOEA covers employees in all shops and offices in Sri Lanka, except for any bazar or sale of work for charitable or other purposes carried on for a period of one month or less, or for a greater period with the approval of the Minister of Labour, any business undertaken in connection with funerals, members of tutorial staff of schools, or watchers and caretakers.

Under SOEA, an employee is entitled to the following holidays:

• Weekly holidays
• Annual leave
• Casual leave
• Statutory holidays
• Full moon Poya holidays
• Maternity leave

Weekly holidays
An employee who works for 28 hours or more (excluding overtime and intervals) for a week must be allowed one and half (1½) days paid holiday in that week or the week immediately after. Generally, such leave is provided as half day on Saturdays and a full day on Sundays. In practice, many organizations provide a full holiday on Saturday.

Annual leave
A shop and office employee is not entitled to Annual Leave in the 1st calendar year of employment (i.e. the year in which the employee commences employment). An employee’s Annual Leave entitlement for the 2nd calendar year is computed based on when the employee commenced employment in the 1st calendar year and is as follows:

• Between January 1 and March 31 of the previous year – 14 days
• Between April 1 and June 30 of the previous year – 10 days
• Between July 1 and September 30 of the previous year – 7 days
• Between October 1 and December 31 of the previous year – 4 days

Casual leave
On the first year of employment, the employee is entitled to one day of casual leave for every two complete months of service. The second year onwards the employee will be eligible for 7 days of casual leave.

Statutory holidays
In terms of the Act, the following days have been declared as public holidays with pay for the shop and office employees. These are also commonly referred to as “Mercantile Holidays”

• Thai Pongal day
• Independence day
• Sinhala & Tamil New Year
• Day preceding Sinhala & Tamil New Year
• May Day
• Day after Vesak full moon Poya
• Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday
• Christmas day

An employee who is required to engage in work on a public holiday is paid no less than twice the daily salary or granted an alternative holiday on any day prior to 31st December of the given year.

Full Moon Poya holidays
Employees are granted a holiday on full moon poya days. The days on which poya holidays are granted are published in the Gazette every year. An employee who is required to engage in work on a poya day is paid no less than one and a half times the daily salary.

Maternity leave
The SOEA and the Maternity Benefits Ordinance provide for a female employee’s entitlement to leave in the event of pregnancy. The SOEA provides for paid maternity leave and benefits for female employees who work in shops and offices. Under the amendment to the SOEA, a female employee is entitled to 84 days paid working days (14 days prior to confinement and 70 days after confinement) where the confinement results in the delivery of a live child, and 42 paid working days (14 days prior to confinement and 28 days after the confinement) where the confinement does not result in the delivery of a live child.  Maternity Leave period excludes weekly holidays, public holidays and Poya holidays.

FAQs.

What is the weekly holiday entitlement and the 28-hour threshold?

An employee who works for 28 hours or more (excluding overtime and Intervals) in any one week must be allowed 1½ days paid holidays in that week or the week immediately thereafter.

Is the weekly holiday paid?

Yes, the 1½ days of weekly holidays are paid holidays.

How much annual leave is due and from which year does it start?

A shop and office employee is not entitled to Annual Leave in the 1st calendar year of employment (i.e. the year in which the employee commences employment).

An employee’s Annual Leave entitlement for the 2nd calendar year is computed based on when the employee commenced employment in the 1st calendar which is as follows:

• 14 days if employment commenced on or after 1st January but before 1st April;
• 10 days if employment commenced on or after 1st April but before 1st July;
• 7 days if employment commenced on or after 1st July but before 1st October; 4 days if employment commenced on or after 1st October but before 31st December;

From the 3rd year of employment, an employee is entitled to the full 14-day Annual Leave allocation.

Are employees entitled to sick leave and how is sick leave computed?

Sri Lankan Labour law provides for Casual leave which includes leave granted on medical grounds.

For the first calendar year of employment (i.e. the year in which the employee commences employment), employee is entitled to ½ day of casual leave for each completed month of service (or 1 day for each completed period of 2 months service). From the 2nd calendar year onwards, an employee is entitled to 7 days of casual leave.

Apart from weekly holidays, are private sector employees entitled to any other holiday?

Yes, apart from weekly holidays private sector employees are entitled to Statutory holidays and Full moon Poya days. At present the statutory holidays are as follows:

• Tamil Thai-Pongal Day.
• National Day.
• Day Prior to Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day.
• Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day.
• May Day.
• Day Following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day.
• Milad-Un-Nabi (Holy Prophet’s Birthday).
• Christmas Day.

What happens if an employee works on a Statutory holiday or a Full moon Poya day?

where an employee works on a:

• statutory holiday – he must be granted an alternative holiday on any day before 31st December of that year or, be paid an extra day’s wage.
• poya day – he must be paid not less than 1 ½ times the normal daily wage.

What are the statutory maternity leave entitlements (first/second vs third+ child)?

Irrespective of the number of children, a female employee is entitled to 84 days paid working days (14 days prior to confinement and 70 days after confinement) where the confinement results in the delivery of a live child, and 42 paid working days (14 days prior to confinement and 28 days after the confinement) where the confinement does not result in the delivery of a live child.

Do weekly, public or Poya holidays count toward maternity leave days?

No, Maternity Leave period must be computed excluding weekly holidays, statutory holidays and Poya holidays.