Service Incentive Leave: 5 Days After 1 Year
Department of Labor and Employment · benefits
Quick answer
Article 95 of the Labor Code gives every employee 5 days of paid service incentive leave a year after rendering at least 1 year of service. It does not apply where you already get 5 days of paid vacation leave, or in establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 employees.
Last verified
Where these figures come from
About these figures: the numbers below come from DOLE's official published sources: Official Gazette | Presidential Decree No. 442, Labor Code of the Philippines (https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1974/05/01/presidential-decree-no-442-s-1974/, retrieved 2026-09-01); Official Gazette | Republic Act No. 10361, Domestic Workers Act (https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/01/18/republic-act-no-10361/, retrieved 2026-09-01). Agencies change fees and rates without notice, so confirm with DOLE before you rely on them. Last verified: 2026-09-01.
The entitlement
Article 95 of the Labor Code is short enough to quote in full on the point that matters:
Every employee who has rendered at least one year of service shall be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay.
Five days. One year of service. Paid.
That is the whole national floor for general paid leave in the private sector. There is no separate statutory annual leave on top of it, which surprises people who arrive from jurisdictions where four weeks is the norm.
The three ways it does not apply
Article 95(b) carves out three situations, and between them they exclude a large share of the workforce.
| Exclusion | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Already enjoying the benefit | Your employer already grants it, so the article adds nothing |
| Enjoying vacation leave with pay of at least 5 days | A company giving 10 or 15 days of paid VL has already satisfied Article 95 |
| Establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 employees | Small employers are outside it entirely |
There is a fourth route: the article lets the Secretary of Labor exempt establishments from granting the benefit, after considering the viability or financial condition of that establishment.
The second exclusion is the one that catches most office workers. If your contract gives you paid vacation leave of five days or more, you are not owed an additional five. The statutory leave has been absorbed.
Who is outside it entirely
Separately from Article 95, Article 82 removes whole categories from this Title of the Labor Code. If you fall in one of these, the 5 days never applied to you in the first place:
| Category | Labor Code definition, where given |
|---|---|
| Government employees | Covered by civil service rules instead |
| Managerial employees | Those whose primary duty is management of the establishment or of a department or subdivision, and other officers or members of the managerial staff |
| Field personnel | Non-agricultural employees who regularly perform duties away from the principal place of business or branch office, and whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty |
| Family members of the employer dependent on him for support | No further definition given |
| Domestic helpers | Covered by RA 10361 instead, see below |
| Persons in the personal service of another | No further definition given |
| Workers paid by results | As determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment in appropriate regulations |
Field personnel deserves a second look because employers sometimes stretch it. The definition has two limbs joined by “and”: the work is performed away from the office and the actual hours cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. A salesperson on a fixed route with reported call times does not obviously satisfy the second limb.
Kasambahay: same 5 days, different rules
Domestic workers are excluded from the Labor Code Title, but they are not left without leave. RA 10361, the Domestic Workers Act, provides in Section 29 that a domestic worker who has rendered at least one (1) year of service is entitled to an annual service incentive leave of five (5) days with pay.
The differences are in what happens to the days you do not use:
| Labor Code Article 95 | RA 10361 Section 29 | |
|---|---|---|
| Days | 5 | 5 |
| Service required | 1 year | 1 year |
| Unused days carried over | Not addressed in the article | Expressly not cumulative, not carried over |
| Unused days converted to cash | Not addressed in the article | Expressly not convertible to cash |
RA 10361 is unusually explicit here. Article 95 simply does not speak to commutation, which is why practice on that point rests on regulations and case law rather than on the text of the article.
The ceiling on disputes
Article 95(c) closes off one avenue:
The grant of benefit in excess of that provided herein shall not be made a subject of arbitration or any court or administrative action.
So the 5 days is enforceable. An argument that you should have received more than the statutory minimum is not, at least not through arbitration or the courts on the strength of this article.
Where it sits among the other minimums
Service incentive leave is one of a small set of statutory floors, and they interact:
| Benefit | Statutory minimum |
|---|---|
| Service incentive leave | 5 days a year after 1 year of service |
| 13th month pay | 1/12 of basic salary earned in the calendar year |
| Paternity leave | 7 days, first 4 deliveries |
| Holiday pay for work on a regular holiday | Twice the regular rate |
The full computation for the second is in our guide to 13th month pay, and the conditions on the third in paternity leave. All of them share the same character: a floor that a better contract or company practice may exceed but not reduce.
Where this goes wrong
Expecting 5 days on top of your vacation leave. If you already have 5 or more paid VL days, Article 95 is satisfied.
Assuming small employers are covered. Establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 employees are excluded by the article itself.
Being labelled field personnel too readily. The definition requires both off-site work and hours that genuinely cannot be determined with reasonable certainty.
Counting on carry-over as a kasambahay. RA 10361 says the unused portion is not cumulative and not convertible to cash.
Frequently asked questions
- How many days of service incentive leave do I get?
- Five days a year with pay, once you have rendered at least one year of service. That is the figure in Article 95 of the Labor Code and it is a minimum rather than a target.
- When do I qualify?
- After rendering at least one year of service. Before that year is complete, Article 95 gives you nothing, though your employer is free to grant leave anyway and many do.
- My company already gives 15 days vacation leave. Do I get 5 more?
- No. Article 95 expressly does not apply to those already enjoying the benefit, or to those enjoying vacation leave with pay of at least five days. The 5 days is a floor that a more generous policy already satisfies.
- I work for a small company. Am I covered?
- Possibly not. Article 95 excludes establishments regularly employing fewer than ten employees. It also allows the Secretary of Labor to exempt establishments after considering their viability or financial condition.
- Who is excluded regardless of company size?
- Article 82 removes several categories from this part of the Labor Code entirely: government employees, managerial employees, field personnel, family members of the employer who depend on him for support, domestic helpers, persons in the personal service of another, and workers paid by results as determined by the Secretary of Labor.
- What counts as field personnel?
- The Labor Code defines field personnel as non-agricultural employees who regularly perform their duties away from the principal place of business or branch office, and whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. Both halves matter. Working off-site is not enough on its own if your hours can still be tracked.
- Do kasambahay get service incentive leave?
- Yes, but under a different law with different terms. The Labor Code excludes domestic helpers, and RA 10361, the Domestic Workers Act, provides separately in Section 29 that a domestic worker with at least one year of service gets 5 days of annual service incentive leave with pay. Under that Act the unused portion is expressly not cumulative and not convertible to cash.
- Can I take my employer to arbitration for more than 5 days?
- Not for the excess. Article 95(c) states that the grant of a benefit in excess of that provided in the article shall not be made a subject of arbitration or any court or administrative action.