Paid Vacation Leave in Jamaica: When Could an Employee Apply for it?

A few days ago a had a huge technical discussion in the Department (Human Resources): Does vacation leave becomes due on the first anniversary of employment or upon completion of the first 110 days worked? Could the employer reject application for leave before the anniversary of employment? Well, in corner A is my HR Manager and the rest of the Department saying that an employee can apply for leave after 110 days and that the employer cannot refuse to grant that leave unless there are particular reasons (Ex, the department being short staff, or any particular project going on which requires the employee expertise) which must be explained to the employee via memo. Corner B, me, saying that vacation leave is due upon anniversary of employment and that any leave application after the first 110 days and before 220 days requires authorization from the employer which could be denied without any further explanation.

1.1 Jamaican Context

In Jamaica employees are entitled to paid vacation leave, there is a minimum requirement of 110 days to be entitled to vacation leave. Legally, employees will accumulate 1 day every 22 days worked from the date of employment for a total of 10 days per year (After 220 days the employee is entitled to the full allotment) for the first 10 years of employment which increases to 15 days after the first 10 days of employment. Of course, the law sets minimum standards to comply with and employers have the option to offer more beneficial packages to their employees. For instance, in most of the organizations I have worked for employees are entitled to 15 days’ vacation leave upon completion of the first 5 years of employment.

1.2 Legal Frame

Vacation Leave in Jamaica is regulated by the Holiday with Pay Act 1947 and the Holiday with Pay Order 1973. This last statute states:

3.41) Any worker, other than a casual worker, who works for any employer on not less than 110 days in any qualifying year shall be granted a holiday with pay by that employer in respect of that qualifying year.

4.-41) The holiday with pay which any worker has earned in any year under paragraph 3:

(a) shall be granted by his employer during the next succeeding qualifying year; or

(b) may, by agreement between him and his employer, be granted during that qualifying year;

1.3 My Opinion

In my opinion the law is crystal clear, vacation leave earned in a year of employment is by default granted upon anniversary of employment during the next qualifying year, that is the rule. Now, every rule has an exception, and that is the agreement between employee-employer to grant accumulated leave after 110 worked days and before 220 worked days. The word agreement implies the consent of the two parties; hence, legally the employer is not compelled to grant leave before 220 days and this mere fact should be enough to justify the rejection of the application.

It is also interested the opinion of Garvin Goffe, Attorney at Law at Myers, Fletcher and Gordon, who posted an article in Myers, Fletch & Gordon’s website last January 6, 2021 where he said

“The 110-day qualifying period for vacation leave applies to every year, not just the first year of employment. By law, an employee ought to work for at least 110 days in every year in respect of which he is seeking to take vacation. This is easily satisfied when the employee is taking leave in the subsequent year of employment. It means, however, that businesses that require employees to take their vacation leave in the same year that it is earned, will not be legally bound to grant any leave for up to 5 months in that year. In that case, a reasonable employer will often grant the vacation leave in advance”.

References:

Holiday with Pay Act 1947

Holiday with Pay Order 1973

https://www.myersfletcher.com/resources/item/calculating-vacation-leave-in-2021.html

CIVIL APPEAL NO 27/2009: CECIL JULY APPELLANT vs KIRK HALL RESPONDENT