How annual leave is calculated: 12 base days, seniority days, pro rata and payout on leaving
Annual leave is often miscounted: someone who joins in May assumes they still get the full 12 days, someone with 4.5 years' service assumes the seniority day has already been added, and someone leaving forgets to ask about pay for unused leave. This article follows exactly how the calculator at the top of this page works: the basic annual leave entitlement by working conditions, the extra day after every 5 years, pro-rating by month for an incomplete year, and pay for remaining leave based on 26 working days.
Basic annual leave: 12, 14 or 16 days
Article 113 of the Labour Code 2019 (Bộ luật Lao động 2019) gives anyone who has worked 12 full months for one employer annual leave on full pay: 12 working days for work in normal conditions; 14 days for minors, people with disabilities and people in heavy, hazardous or dangerous occupations; 16 days for especially heavy, hazardous or dangerous occupations, all counted in working days.
Accountants, software developers, sales staff and receptionists belong to the 12-day group. Welders, painters and machine operators may be on the list of heavy or hazardous occupations depending on the specific work; the surest way to find out is to ask HR what your occupation is called on that list. A company may give more than the law requires, but not less.
- Normal conditions
- 12 days12 full months with one employer
- Heavy, hazardous, dangerous
- 14 daysAlso minors and people with disabilities
- Especially heavy
- 16 daysPer the list of occupations issued by the competent authority
- Seniority
- 1 extra dayFor every 5 full years with one employer
Extra leave for seniority
Article 114 provides that for every 5 full years worked for one employer, annual leave increases by 1 day. The word "full" matters: 59 months is still 12 days, and only at exactly 60 months does it become 13. The calculator divides seniority in months by 60, keeps the whole number and shows how many months are left until the next milestone; someone with 4.5 years' service will see the line "6 months to go".
Seniority counts with the same employer; if you change companies, the count starts again from zero. The calculator adds 1 full day for the whole year in which you reach the milestone; some companies add it only pro rata from the month you reach it, so check with HR first.
Under 12 full months: leave pro-rated by months worked
- Full-year entitlement
Basic days for your working conditions plus seniority days: 1 more after 5 full years, 2 more after 10 full years.
- Pro-rate by month for an incomplete year
Full-year days divided by 12, times the months worked in the year, rounded to one decimal place.
- Subtract days already taken
What remains is the number of days you can still use, or be paid for when you leave.
- Convert to money
Monthly contractual salary divided by standard working days, times the remaining days.
Someone who has worked less than 12 months gets leave in proportion to the months worked. The calculator divides the full-year entitlement by 12, multiplies it by the months worked in the year and rounds to one decimal place. Joining in May and working 8 months: 12 divided by 12, times 8, gives 8 days. A heavy job for 7 months: 14 divided by 12, times 7, gives 8.2 days. Someone with 62 months' seniority leaving at the end of May: 13 divided by 12, times 5, gives 5.4 days.
Months worked in the year means the months you were employed in the calendar year in question, not your seniority: an employee who joined in May this year has 8 months' seniority and has worked 8 months in the year; the following year their seniority is 20 months, but they work the full 12 months. That is why the calculator has two separate fields for them.
Pay for untaken annual leave when employment ends, and the 26-working-day figure
If you resign or lose your job before using all your leave, you are paid for the days not taken; the law only requires payment in these two cases, while for someone still employed who does not use all their leave, carrying it over or paying it out depends on company policy. The calculator works out one day of leave as the monthly contractual salary divided by the number of standard working days, 26 by default, which corresponds to the 48-hour working week under Article 105. Companies on a 5-day week usually count 22 working days; change the "Standard working days" field and a salary of 20 million VND gives 769,231 VND per day at 26 days and 909,091 VND at 22 days.
| Case | Seniority | Full-year leave | Entitled | Taken | Remaining | Monthly salary | Pay for remaining leave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General accountant, 5 years 2 months | Seniority62 months | Full-year leave13 days | Entitled13 days | Taken4 days | Remaining9 days | Monthly salary20,000,000 | Pay for remaining leave6,923,077 |
| New employee, joined in May, 8 months worked | Seniority8 months | Full-year leave12 days | Entitled8 days | Taken2 days | Remaining6 days | Monthly salary12,000,000 | Pay for remaining leave2,769,231 |
| Worker in a heavy occupation, 10 years 10 months | Seniority130 months | Full-year leave16 days | Entitled16 days | Taken10 days | Remaining6 days | Monthly salary15,000,000 | Pay for remaining leave3,461,538 |
The general accountant with 9 days of leave left receives 6,923,077 VND; divided by 22 instead, it becomes 8,181,818 VND, a difference of almost 1.3 million, so ask exactly how many working days are used before signing the settlement statement.
Combining leave, travel days and common mistakes
You can agree with the company to combine up to 3 years of leave and take it in one go, which people working far from their home town often use for one long trip home. If the round trip while on leave takes more than 2 days, travel time from the 3rd day onwards is added, once a year. The company schedules leave under its internal rules, so give a few weeks' notice.
- Joining mid-year and assuming you still get the full 12 days of leave that year.
- Counting Saturdays and Sundays as leave days taken.
- Waiting for 5 calendar years instead of 60 full months from your start date.
- Signing the settlement statement when leaving without checking your remaining leave days.
- Using 26 working days when the company counts 22, or the other way round.
Sample annual leave request
To the Human Resources Department. My name is Nguyễn Thị Hoa, payments accountant, employed since 1 August 2021. In 2026 I am entitled to 13 days of leave (12 days by law and 1 seniority day for 5 full years) and have taken 4 days. I request 5 working days of leave, from Monday 16 November 2026 to Friday 20 November 2026, with my work handed over to Ms Trần Mai; after this leave I will have 4 days of leave remaining.
Using the annual leave calculator
Enter your seniority in months, then choose the working conditions, months worked in the year, days already taken, standard working days and monthly salary; the calculator shows your entitlement, the extra days, the months left until the next seniority milestone and the pay for unused leave. The result is the legal minimum; if your company's policy is more generous, add the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Working 8 months of the year in normal conditions gives 8 days (12 divided by 12, times 8); a heavy occupation gives 9.3 days. The following year, with the full 12 months worked, you get the whole 12 or 14 days.
Not yet. You get 1 extra day only for each 5 full years worked for one employer, meaning exactly 60 months; 59 months is still 12 days, and the calculator shows 1 month to go.
With 26 standard working days, each day of leave is worth 769,231 VND, so 9 days come to 6,923,077 VND. If the company counts 22 working days, each day is worth 909,091 VND and 9 days come to 8,181,818 VND.
The law only requires payment for unused leave when you resign or lose your job; while you are still employed, carrying leave over or paying it out depends on company policy, so ask HR before the end of the year.