• an employee's minimum leave entitlement;

• situations where accrued leave can be carried forward to another year or encashed; and

• how accrued but unused leave is treated at the end of an employee's period of service.

Both employers and employees need to understand their rights and obligations when it comes to annual leave. In most cases employees will use up their annual leave allowance during the course of the year. However situations arise where an employee is unable or chooses not to take accrued annual leave. This may be because an employer requires an employee to work through a holiday to complete an urgent project, or alternatively an employee may try to accumulate annual leave (by not taking it) over a long period in anticipation for a larger payout when they leave. Employers and employees must be careful as these actions may inadvertently not comply the law, or result in the leave entitlement being lost without recourse or recompense.