Holidays

• 1st January – New Year’s Day

• 1st April – Holy Thursday (Thursday before Easter Sunday)

• 2nd April – Good Friday

• 3rd April – Holy Saturday

• 4th April – Easter Day

• 1st May – Labour Day

• 10th May – Mother’s Day

• 17th June – Father’s Day

• 6th August – Fiesta de San Salvador

• 15th September – Independence Day

• 24th December – Christmas Eve

• 25th December – Christmas Day

• 31st December – New Year’s Eve

PTO

Employees are entitled to up to 15 days of paid annual leave after they have completed one year of service. Employees are paid 130% of the standard rate. Annual leave is calculated from December 12-December 12. Also, employees who have completed a year of employment are entitled to a bonus.

To qualify for paid vacation time, the employee must have worked at least 200 days in one year. The vacation cannot begin on a holiday or day off. However, if holidays or weekly rest days are included in the vacation period, the employee cannot extend its duration.

Rollovers and payout of unused hours

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

Accrued annual leave cannot be carried over. 

• PTO payout at the termination

When a contract is terminated with responsibility for the employer, or when the employee is terminated without cause, by 12 December, the employee is entitled to receive a proportional bonus for their work.

Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

Female employees are entitled to up to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave at the rate of 75% of their regular wages. Employees can take 6 weeks of leave before the expected due date and 10 weeks after the child is born. Maternity leave can be extended pre-birth if there is a pregnancy-related illness.

After the 4th month of pregnancy, the woman cannot be assigned to physical work.  

Employees are required to provide their employers with a medical certificate stating their pregnancy status and expected due date.

Paternity Leave

Male employees are entitled to up to 2 days of paid leave. This leave is a part of an emergency family leave. An employee is required to submit a birth certificate or judgment of adoption to the employer for granting this leave.

Sick Leave, Paid Sick Leave, and Family Care Leave

Employees are entitled to up to 26 weeks of paid sick leave. The employer is required to pay for the first three days and then the social security covers the remainder. 

Employees with a disability are entitled to social security coverage for up to one year.

If an employee is disabled due to an occupational disease or accident, he/she must receive a higher benefit. In the case of temporary or total incapacity/disability, an employee may at least be provided 50% of his average wage while in the case of fatal injury, the survivors may be provided with 40% of the deceased employee’s average wage in periodical payments.

Jury Duty Leave and Voting Leave (Leave due to Public Interest)

Not specified by law.

Bereavement Leave

Employees are entitled to use their emergency family leave for this purpose.

Military Leave

Not Specified by law.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about El Salvador Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.