Family Responsibility Leave in South Africa

Family responsibility leave is set by section 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). It is separate from sick leave, which covers the employee's own illness (see our guide to sick leave in South Africa), and from annual leave. Many employers call it compassionate leave. Section 27 was amended with effect from 1 January 2020, so check that your leave policy and payroll leave codes use the current wording.

Who qualifies for family responsibility leave?

Section 27 applies to an employee who (BCEA s27(1)):

• has been in employment with the employer for longer than four months; and
• works for at least four days a week for that employer.

Both conditions must be met. An employee who works three days a week does not qualify under the BCEA, however long they have worked there. Like the rest of the leave chapter, s27 also does not apply to employees who work less than 24 hours a month (BCEA s19(1)).

How many days of family responsibility leave do you get?

The employer must grant three days' paid leave during each annual leave cycle, at the employee's request (BCEA s27(2)). The annual leave cycle is the 12 months of employment from the employee's start date, or from the end of the previous cycle (s20(1)).

• Three days per cycle in total, not three days per event.
• Whole or part days. The employee may take the leave for a whole day or part of a day (s27(4)).
• Pay. The employer must pay the wage the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day, on the usual pay day (s27(3)).

What events does family responsibility leave cover?

Since 1 January 2020, the employee may take the leave (BCEA s27(2)):

1. When the employee's child is sick.
2. In the event of the death of the employee's spouse or life partner, or the employee's parent, adoptive parent, grandparent, child, adopted child, grandchild or sibling.

What is not covered

• The illness of a spouse, life partner, parent or anyone other than the employee's child.
• The death of relatives not on the list, such as parents-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
• The birth of the employee's child (see below).

The Act does not define "child" for this section and does not set an age limit for a sick child. Some policies limit it to minor or dependent children. Whether that is lawful has not been tested as far as we could find, so take care before refusing leave for an adult child.

Many employers give extra compassionate leave for events outside s27, such as the death of an in-law. That is a policy choice. Leave above the BCEA minimum is governed by the agreement or policy, not the Act (s19(2)).

Is the birth of a child still family responsibility leave?

No. Before 2020, s27(2)(a) gave family responsibility leave "when the employee's child is born". The Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018 repealed that paragraph with effect from 1 January 2020 and introduced parental leave in section 25A.

Parental leave has since changed again. In Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour, judgment handed down on 3 October 2025, the Constitutional Court found the BCEA's maternity, parental, adoption and commissioning parental leave provisions unconstitutional. It gave Parliament 36 months to fix them and, in the meantime, read in an interim arrangement under which working parents share four months and ten days of leave between them. A draft Labour Law Amendment Bill, published for comment in February 2026, proposes to make shared parental leave permanent (Acts Online, 26 February 2026). Leave for a birth should be handled under those provisions, not s27.

What proof can an employer ask for?

Before paying for family responsibility leave, an employer may require reasonable proof of the event for which the leave was needed (BCEA s27(5)). The Act does not list what counts as reasonable. Common examples:

• Sick child: a medical certificate or a clinic or hospital record showing the child was seen.
• Death: a death certificate, a funeral notice or programme, or a letter from the funeral parlour. A copy of the death certificate is often only available later.
• Relationship: where it is not clear, a birth certificate, marriage certificate, or an affidavit for a life partner or a relationship without formal documents.

"Reasonable" matters. Asking for documents the employee cannot get in time, or that do not exist in that family's circumstances, is not reasonable. Section 27(5) allows the employer to require proof before paying; it does not stop the employee from taking the leave. A practical approach is to grant the leave, record it, and pay once proof arrives.

Unused days lapse and are not paid out

An employee's unused entitlement lapses at the end of the annual leave cycle in which it accrues (BCEA s27(6)). It does not carry over, and the BCEA does not require it to be paid out on termination (s40 lists only unused annual leave and certain time off).

Collective agreements and sectoral rules

A collective agreement may vary the number of days and the circumstances in which family responsibility leave is granted (BCEA s27(7)). Bargaining council agreements and sectoral determinations can therefore differ from the three-day rule. Check the agreement or determination that covers your employees, and check that your own policy still matches the post-2020 wording of s27.

Family responsibility leave in absence data

Family responsibility leave should be kept out of your absenteeism rate. The rate is meant to measure unplanned absence caused by the employee's own illness, which an employer can understand and manage. Family responsibility leave is different:

• It is a separate statutory entitlement, capped at three days a cycle.
• It is triggered by events the employee does not control, mostly deaths and a child's illness.
• Counting it as absence can push a bereaved employee over an absence threshold and into a warning process. That is unfair to the employee and exposes the employer.
• It makes comparisons between departments or periods less reliable, because bereavements cluster by chance.

The same applies to any absence score your policy uses, such as the Bradford Factor. Leave family responsibility days out of it.

Track it separately instead. Record it under its own leave code, not under a sick leave code such as "sick child". A count per employee per cycle tells you whether the three days have been used, and helps you plan cover. If an employee repeatedly uses all three days for a child's illness, that may point to a care problem where flexible hours or other support would help.

Our absenteeism rate calculator shows the standard calculation, and our labour law and absenteeism overview covers how absence is handled under the BCEA and the LRA.

In Appsentia, you mark which of your leave types count as sick leave when you upload leave data. The absenteeism rate and the cost of absence are calculated from sick leave only. Other leave types, such as family responsibility and annual leave, are used only to flag sick days taken next to other leave. See what Appsentia analyses.

Sources

1. Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (as amended by the Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018), gov.za: sections 19, 20, 27 and 40.
2. Constitutional Court, Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour (CCT 308/23 and CCT 309/23), 3 October 2025.
3. Acts Online, Draft Labour Law Amendment Bill gazetted for comment, 26 February 2026.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Check the current Act, and any sectoral determination or bargaining council agreement that covers your employees, before acting.