Annual leave is 5, 10, or 15 days by cumulative service years; unused days are paid at 300% of daily wage

With cumulative service of at least 1 year but less than 10 years across all employers, you get 5 days of annual leave per year. At 10 years it is 10 days; at 20 years, 15 days. Job changes still count toward the total. If the employer cannot schedule leave and you agree not to take it, those days are paid at 3 times daily wage. Sign a “voluntary waiver of annual leave” form and you only get normal wages.

Cost

No cost. Add up years worked at all employers once; social insurance payment records are proof. The hard part is refusing to sign a “voluntary waiver of annual leave” form if the company pushes one.

Benefit

After 12 consecutive months of work you are entitled to annual leave. The number of days follows cumulative working time—years at all employers added together. At least 1 year but less than 10 years: 5 days; at least 10 years but less than 20 years: 10 days; 20 years or more: 15 days. Statutory public holidays and rest days do not count toward annual leave days. Where the employer truly cannot arrange leave because of work needs and you agree in writing not to take it, it must “pay annual leave wages at 300% of the employee’s daily wage income” for the days not taken. That 300% already includes the normal wage for the day you would have worked, so the extra cash in hand is 200%. Daily wage = your monthly wage ÷ 21.75. Monthly wage is the average over the 12 months before payment, excluding overtime pay. If you joined the employer mid-year, days are prorated by remaining calendar days at that employer. On resignation, accrue and settle for the portion of the year already worked; excess leave already taken is not clawed back. If the employer neither arranges leave nor pays, it is ordered to correct within a deadline. If it still does not after the deadline, besides the annual leave wage payment, it must pay an additional sum equal to that amount as compensation (nationwide; effective 1 January 2008).

Notes

Cumulative working time must be summed across employers; if you changed jobs, do not count only tenure at the current employer. Only when the employee “does not take leave for personal reasons and states so in writing” may the employer pay only normal wages, so do not sign a “voluntary waiver of annual leave” form. If personal leave totals more than 20 days in a year and the employer does not deduct wages, you get no annual leave that year. Excessive sick leave also disqualifies you: less than 10 years of service—2 months; 10 to 20 years—3 months; more than 20 years—4 months. Home leave, marriage and bereavement leave, maternity leave, and work-injury wage continuation periods do not count toward annual leave.

Sources · 2

1. 国务院 (2007). 职工带薪年休假条例（国务院令第 514 号，第二、三、四、五、七条）. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2008/content_859865.htm
2. 人力资源和社会保障部 (2008). 企业职工带薪年休假实施办法（人社部令第 1 号，第三、四、五、十、十一、十二、十五条）. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2009/content_1265995.htm