Family responsibility leave is the only leave in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act that your employer must pay you for and that you do not have to earn by working for it.
It is also narrower than almost everyone thinks, and the list of qualifying reasons published on most South African websites is out of date.
What you get
Section 27 of the BCEA gives qualifying employees three days of paid family responsibility leave in each annual leave cycle.
Paid, at full remuneration. An annual leave cycle is the twelve months of employment following the day you started, or following the end of your last cycle.
Who qualifies
You must tick both boxes:
- You have been employed by that employer for longer than four months, and
- You work at least four days a week for that employer
Work three days a week and you get nothing. Four months and one week into a new job and you get nothing. Both requirements are strict and neither is negotiable at law, though your employer or a bargaining council may be more generous.
The two reasons that count
This is the part that matters, and where the internet will lead you astray.
You may take family responsibility leave in exactly two situations:
1. When your child is sick. Any child under 18, whether biological, adopted or in your care.
2. When a close family member dies. The list is closed: your spouse or life partner, your parent, your adoptive parent, your grandparent, your child, your adopted child, your grandchild, or your sibling.
That is the whole list.
What is not covered
The birth of your child is no longer a ground. This is the big one, and a remarkable number of South African websites, including employer organisations and law firm blogs, still list it.
It used to be true. When parental leave was introduced into the BCEA, the birth of a child was removed from section 27 and moved into the parental leave provisions instead. And since the Constitutional Court’s judgment in Van Wyk in October 2025, parental leave has itself been rewritten and considerably expanded. If your child is being born, you are not on family responsibility leave. You are on parental leave, and you should read parental leave in South Africa and, if you are the father, paternity leave in South Africa.
Also not covered, no matter how much it feels like it should be:
- Parents in law. Your spouse’s mother is not on the list.
- Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
- Close friends, however close.
- Tombstone unveilings and other memorial events after the fact.
- A sick spouse or sick parent. Read the list again. Sickness only covers your child. For an adult family member who is ill, you are looking at annual leave or unpaid leave.
Your employer may of course grant leave for any of these at its discretion, and many do. But it is a favour, not a right, and it must be applied consistently to everyone or it becomes a discrimination problem of its own.
The rules nobody tells you
It does not accumulate. Unused days lapse at the end of the annual leave cycle. They do not carry forward, and unlike annual leave, they are not paid out when you leave. Use them or lose them.
You can take half a day. The Act allows leave for the whole or part of a day, so a half day for a school sick collection is legitimate.
Your employer can ask for proof. Section 27(5) allows an employer to require reasonable proof of the event before paying you. A medical certificate or a death certificate is reasonable. Demanding a chain of documentation designed to make the leave impractical is not.
Your employer may not unreasonably refuse it. If you qualify, you have days left, and the event is on the list, the leave is yours.
A collective agreement can change all of this. Section 27(7) allows a collective agreement to vary both the number of days and the circumstances. If you fall under a bargaining council, check its agreement first, because it may well give you more than three days and a longer list of qualifying events.
If your employer refuses
Work through it in order:
- Raise it internally, in writing, citing section 27 of the BCEA and the specific ground you are relying on.
- Lodge a complaint with the Department of Employment and Labour. Inspectors can investigate a contravention and issue a compliance order.
- Refer the dispute to the CCMA or your bargaining council.
Refusing legitimate family responsibility leave, or refusing to pay for it, exposes an employer to enforcement action. Most will fold at step one once you quote the section.
How it compares to your other leave
| Leave | Days | Paid by employer? | Accumulates? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family responsibility | 3 per cycle | Yes | No |
| Annual leave | 21 consecutive days | Yes | Yes, and paid out |
| Parental leave | Up to 4 months | No | No |
| Unpaid leave | By agreement | No | No |
Family responsibility leave is the only one of these that is short, paid, and available immediately without accruing it. That makes it the most valuable three days in the Act, and the ones most often wasted on situations that do not qualify.
See our leave days calculator for how the annual leave entitlement accrues and what your balance is worth, and unpaid leave in South Africa for what happens when you run out.
Frequently asked questions
How many days family responsibility leave in South Africa? Three paid days per annual leave cycle, under section 27 of the BCEA, provided you have more than four months’ service and work at least four days a week.
Can I take family responsibility leave for the birth of my child? No. The birth of a child is no longer a qualifying ground. You take parental leave instead, which is now far more generous following the Van Wyk judgment.
Can I take family responsibility leave when my parent in law dies? Not as of right. Parents in law are not on the section 27 list. Your employer may grant it at its discretion.
Can I take family responsibility leave if my spouse is sick? No. Sickness only qualifies where it is your child who is ill. A death qualifies for a wider list of relatives, but sickness does not.
Is family responsibility leave paid? Yes, at full remuneration. It is one of the few genuinely paid leave entitlements in the BCEA.
Do unused family responsibility days get paid out? No. They lapse at the end of the annual leave cycle and are not paid out on termination.
Sources
Family responsibility leave is governed by section 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997. The change to the parental leave regime comes from the Constitutional Court’s judgment in Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour, handed down on 3 October 2025.
This is general information, not legal advice.
