Annual Leave in China

Statutory annual leave is 5, 10 or 15 days by cumulative service, not by this job alone.

The paid annual leave regulation counts total years in the workforce, not only years with the current employer, once the employee has served this employer for 12 months. Typical bands are 5 days (1–10 years), 10 days (10–20) and 15 days (20+). Statutory holidays and rest days are extra. If the employer cannot arrange leave, unused statutory days are commonly paid at 200% of daily wage (including the wage already paid for that day, depending on local reading). Probation and first-year timing are local-practice sensitive.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

What is the employee’s cumulative working-year band?

Prior employers count; social-insurance history is often used as proof.

Band

Has 12 months with this employer run?

New joiners generally wait until that anniversary for statutory leave.

Eligibility

Was leave refused or only unused by choice?

Payout rules differ if the employer caused the leftover.

Cause

Is this statutory or company extra leave?

Handbook extras can have their own expiry; the statutory floor cannot be contracted below.

Floor

Working rule: The paid annual leave regulation counts total years in the workforce, not only years with the current employer, once the employee has served this employer for 12 months.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

Years undercounted

Did HR only count years at this WFOE?

The regulation uses cumulative working years.

Forced leftover

Did the company decline leave requests until year-end?

That is the usual 200% payout fact pattern.

Probation myth

Was annual leave denied solely because the person is on probation?

Eligibility is mainly the 12-month and working-year tests, not a blanket probation ban.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Service proofCV, prior labour books or SI records for cumulative years.

02Leave ledgerRequests, approvals, refusals and remaining statutory days.

03HandbookCompany extra leave versus statutory floor.

04Payslips on exitWhether unused statutory leave was paid, and at what rate.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Can the contract say ‘leave is at company discretion’?

Not below the statutory floor. Discretion can apply to extra company days, not to the 5/10/15 band.

Do unused days always cash out at 200%?

The 200% treatment is aimed at employer-caused leftover statutory leave. Employee-chosen leftover and extra company leave follow the handbook and local practice.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

Paid Annual Leave Regulations (gov.cn)

Supreme People’s Court