Leave by country / Colombia
Colombia annual leave entitlement
How much paid leave people in Colombia get, what happens to unused days, and what you owe when someone leaves — in plain English, whether you run a team there or work on one.
Colombia guarantees 15 consecutive working days of paid annual leave for each year of service under Article 186 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo. At least six days must be taken each year and the rest may be accumulated for up to two years; up to half may be paid in money by written agreement; and untaken leave, including the proportional part of the current year, is paid out when the contract ends.
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What the law actually says
Article 186 gives every employee 15 consecutive working days of paid leave for each year of service, taken at a time set by the employer with at least 15 days’ notice, paid at the ordinary salary at the time the leave is taken. Article 190 requires at least six continuous working days to be taken each year; the rest may be accumulated by agreement for up to two years, or four years for technical, specialised, trusted or management staff and for foreigners working away from their families. Article 189 allows up to half of the leave to be paid in money instead, by written agreement at the employee’s request.
Worth knowing: Colombia is one of the few countries that lets employees sell part of their statutory leave while employed — up to half, and only by written agreement. Leave earned and not taken is paid in money when the contract ends, proportionally for the incomplete year.
What happens to unused leave in Colombia
Colombian leave accumulates rather than lapsing, but within limits: at least six continuous days must be taken every year, and the balance can be saved by agreement for two years (four for the categories in Article 190). Up to half of each year’s leave can be converted to money by written agreement. Whatever remains when the contract ends — full years and the proportional part of the current one — is paid in money.
When employment ends, the untaken balance must be paid. This is the rule across the European Union and Australia, and it is the sharpest contrast with the United States, where whether unused time is paid out depends entirely on which state the employee works in.
If you run a team in Colombia
- Write the entitlement into every contract. At least 15 days; more is fine, less is void. Collective agreements may add to it.
- Track accrual and carryover to the day, with a record of every approval. When someone leaves, the untaken balance is money you owe, and you will need to show how you got to the number.
- Budget for the payout. Every unused day on the books is a liability at that person's current pay rate — it does not disappear at year end.
If you work in Colombia
- Check your contract gives at least 15 days. Anything less is unenforceable.
- Keep your own record of approved leave. Payroll systems get changed; your notes don't.
- When you leave, untaken statutory leave must be paid out. It cannot be forfeited.
Countries with the same 15-day minimum
Calculating an employee's balance
Entitlement is the starting point; the working number is what an individual has actually accrued at a given date. Our accrual calculator converts an annual entitlement into a per-pay-period figure and a current balance.
Tracking Colombia leave correctly
Because untaken leave is money the employer owes, the balance has to be provable. Spreadsheets fail at exactly the moment they matter — when someone disputes what they were owed on their last day and nobody can reconstruct the record.
For a single-country team, Leavo handles Colombia accrual rules, carryover and approvals with a full audit trail. If you employ people in more than one country, statutory entitlements, carryover rules and payout obligations differ in every one — that is the case for a platform like Deel that handles multi-country employment rather than leave alone. We compare the options in our leave management software guide.
Colombia annual leave: common questions
How many paid annual leave days are employees entitled to in Colombia?
15 working days is the statutory minimum in Colombia, equivalent to 3 weeks on a five-day working week, under Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, Arts. 186–192. Employers and collective agreements may grant more, never less.
Must unused annual leave be paid out when employment ends in Colombia?
Yes. Payment in lieu of untaken statutory leave is required when the employment relationship ends in Colombia. During employment, cash-out is limited: up to half the annual leave, by written agreement at the employee’s request.
Can an employer in Colombia refuse a leave request?
An employer can usually influence when leave is taken for operational reasons, but cannot deny the entitlement itself. The right to the minimum number of days is statutory and cannot be contracted away.
Do public holidays count towards the 15-day entitlement in Colombia?
No. Public holidays are separate from the 15-day statutory annual leave entitlement in Colombia.
Source
Primary source: Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, Arts. 186–192. Statutory minimums change, and collective agreements frequently exceed them — confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.