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Family Responsibility Leave for Domestic Workers: 5 Days, Not 3

Family responsibility leave is paid time off for specific family emergencies — a child's birth or illness, or a death in the close family. Here is a detail many employers miss: while most South African employees get three days a year under the BCEA, Sectoral Determination 7 gives domestic workers five days per leave cycle. This page covers who qualifies, the exact qualifying events, pay and proof.

Last reviewed June 2026 · wage figures from 1 March 2026

Five days per leave cycle — the domestic sector is different

Under Sectoral Determination 7, a qualifying domestic worker is entitled to five days' paid family responsibility leave during each annual leave cycle (each 12-month period from the start of employment). This is more generous than the three-day BCEA standard that applies to most other employees, and because SD7 is the sector-specific law, the five-day entitlement is the one that applies in your household.

The days are paid at the wage the worker would normally have earned on those days, and the leave can be taken as whole days or part of a day.

Who qualifies

Two conditions, both required: the worker must have been employed by you for longer than four months, and must work for you at least four days a week. A full-time housekeeper qualifies; a char who comes two days a week does not — for her, compassionate absences are handled through annual leave or unpaid leave by agreement.

The four-days-a-week test is per employer. A worker with five different one-day-a-week employers does not qualify with any of them, which is worth knowing (and perhaps being humane about) when a genuine bereavement hits.

The qualifying events — the exact list

Family responsibility leave may be taken only for the events the determination lists:

• When the worker's child is born
• When the worker's child is sick
• On the death of the worker's spouse or life partner
• On the death of the worker's parent or adoptive parent
• On the death of the worker's grandparent
• On the death of the worker's child or adopted child
• On the death of the worker's grandchild
• On the death of the worker's brother or sister

What it does not cover

The list is closed. Deaths outside it — an aunt, uncle, cousin, in-law or close friend — do not trigger family responsibility leave, however painful the loss. Nor does the worker's own illness (that is sick leave), a sick spouse or parent (only a sick child qualifies), school events, or home emergencies. For non-qualifying situations, the options are annual leave, unpaid leave by agreement, or simple goodwill.

Pregnancy and childbirth for the worker herself are covered by maternity leave; the 'birth of a child' event here is what gives a worker time off when her partner gives birth.

Proof, pay and the use-it-or-lose-it rule

Before paying for the leave, you may ask for reasonable proof of the event — a death notice or funeral letter, a clinic card or note for a sick child, a birth certificate. Keep the request proportionate; 'reasonable' is the legal standard.

Unused family responsibility days lapse at the end of each annual leave cycle. They do not roll over, accumulate or get paid out — on termination there is no family-responsibility payout, unlike accrued annual leave. Record each day taken on a signed leave form (there is a printable one on our leave hub) so the five-day balance is never in dispute.

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