If you employ staff in Colombia, paid annual leave (vacaciones) is set by the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo (CST), not by whatever leave policy your head office runs in the US, the UK, or elsewhere in Latin America. The headline number is shorter than Brazil’s, the accrual mechanic is closer to Mexico’s, and the trap most international employers fall into is the one nobody warns them about: untaken leave must be paid out on termination, with no forfeiture.

This guide explains how vacaciones work in Colombia in 2026 — the statutory entitlement, who qualifies, when leave has to be granted, and the obligations that keep you on the right side of the Ministerio del Trabajo. Facts here come from articles 186 to 196 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo.

Key Takeaways

Employees are entitled to 15 working days of paid annual leave per year of service under article 186 of the CST.
The right vests after one year of continuous service; before that, leave is earned proportionally.
Annual leave is paid at the employee’s normal remuneration — not a discounted “vacation rate”.
Unused leave must be taken within the year following the accrual period; carry-over beyond that requires agreement.
On termination, untaken leave is paid out — there is no forfeiture rule, regardless of who ends the contract.

The Statutory Entitlement: 15 Working Days

Under article 186 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, every employee on a Colombian employment contract is entitled to 15 working days of paid annual leave for each year of service. The entitlement is expressed in días hábiles — working days — so weekends and statutory public holidays inside the leave block do not count toward the 15.

In practice, 15 working days translates to roughly three calendar weeks of time off, depending on where the leave block falls in the calendar and how many public holidays are absorbed. That sits below Brazil’s 30 calendar days but in line with the typical Andean and Central American minimum.

The 15 days is a floor, not a ceiling. Collective bargaining agreements (convenciones colectivas) and individual contracts at multinationals often improve on the statutory minimum, particularly for tenured employees. What you cannot do is contract below it — any clause that gives less is void, and the worker keeps the CST minimum regardless of what they signed.

How Annual Leave Accrues

Annual leave in Colombia accrues against an employee’s anniversary date, not the calendar year. The mechanic is:

The employee works a 12-month period (the accrual period) starting from their hire date.
At the end of that period, the right to 15 working days of paid leave vests in full.
The employer must then grant the leave during the year following the accrual period.

Employees who have not yet completed a full year still earn leave proportionally. If the employment ends before the first anniversary — by resignation, dismissal, or mutual agreement — the unused balance is paid out on a pro-rata basis as part of the liquidación (termination settlement).

This anniversary-based accrual is one of the most common places international HR systems get it wrong. A platform configured for a January-to-December leave year will quietly mis-calculate Colombian balances every time an employee is hired mid-year.

Who Is Eligible

Eligibility under the CST is straightforward: any employee on a subordinate employment relationship qualifies, regardless of contract type, role, or seniority. That includes:

Indefinite-term contracts (contrato a término indefinido)
Fixed-term contracts (contrato a término fijo)
Project- or work-based contracts (contrato por obra o labor)
Probationary periods (periodo de prueba)

Part-time employees earn the same statutory days — the entitlement is in days, not hours, so a four-day-a-week worker has the same 15-working-day right as a full-time colleague.

Independent contractors operating under a contrato de prestación de servicios sit outside the CST and do not qualify for vacaciones. As in Mexico and Brazil, however, Colombian labour authorities and judges regularly reclassify misclassified contractors as employees — which exposes the principal to back-pay for vacaciones, prima de servicios, cesantías, and the rest of the statutory package. Get the classification right at the start.

Employer Obligations Under the CST

The CST places a series of positive duties on the employer — not just paying for leave, but actively scheduling and granting it.

1. Grant 15 Working Days After Each Year of Service

Once an employee completes 12 months of continuous service, you must allow them to take a full 15 working days of paid annual leave. A contractual clause that gives less is unenforceable; the statutory minimum applies regardless.

2. Pay Normal Remuneration During Leave

Vacaciones are paid at the employee’s normal remuneration. That means the same base salary the worker would have earned had they been at work — not a stripped-down “leave rate”. Variable pay components are folded in following the CST rules on average remuneration.

The pay is owed in advance of the leave period in line with Colombian payroll practice, and missing it is treated as a wage breach, not a minor administrative issue.

3. Schedule Leave Within the Following Year

Article 187 of the CST contemplates that leave will be granted in the year following the accrual period. The employer chooses the dates, taking into account the needs of the business and the wishes of the employee, but cannot indefinitely defer leave into a vague rolling balance.

If the employer and employee genuinely cannot align on dates, the CST allows the parties to agree to carry leave forward — but the carry-over has to be documented and is the exception, not the default.

4. Pay Out Unused Leave on Termination

This is the rule international employers most often miss. When the employment relationship ends, the liquidación must include a payout for any accrued but untaken vacaciones, including pro-rated leave for an incomplete accrual period. There is no forfeiture rule — it does not matter whether the employee resigned, was dismissed for cause, or was let go in a redundancy.

5. Document Leave Properly

Issue and retain written records of the dates of leave taken and the corresponding payment. Inspectors from the Ministerio del Trabajo regularly ask for these during audits, and they are the cleanest defence to a later claim that leave was never granted.

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Compensation in Money: The Narrow Exception

Colombia, like several Latin American jurisdictions, allows a limited form of cash compensation in lieu of leave. Under article 189 of the CST, an employee may, by agreement with the employer, compensate up to half of their annual leave in money — but only when the leave has actually accrued and only for the portion above the statutory minimum that must be enjoyed in time off.

Two practical points to keep in mind:

The right to rest is the point of the entitlement. Routinely converting leave into cash, especially without a properly documented agreement, attracts scrutiny.
The compensation must be paid at the employee’s normal remuneration, not at a discounted rate.

Treat compensación en dinero as a narrow exception, not a default policy.

Common Pitfalls

International employers and Colombian SMEs alike trip over the same handful of issues. Avoid these:

Skipping the termination payout. The single most common CST breach. Untaken leave is owed on every termination, with no forfeiture for unused balances.
Using a calendar leave year. Vacaciones accrue against the anniversary date, not 1 January. Calendar-year HR systems imported from elsewhere will mis-calculate balances every time someone is hired mid-year.
Treating the 15 days as calendar days. They are días hábiles — working days — so weekends and public holidays inside the block do not count.
Letting leave roll indefinitely. The CST contemplates leave being taken in the year following the accrual period. Open-ended balances drift into compliance and back-pay risk.
Misclassifying employees as contractors. A prestación de servicios arrangement that walks and quacks like employment will be reclassified, with full back-pay for vacaciones and the rest of the statutory benefits package.
Paying leave at a discounted “vacation rate”. Leave pay is the employee’s normal remuneration. Anything less is a wage underpayment.

For a wider regional comparison, see our guides to annual leave entitlement in Mexico, annual leave entitlement in Brazil, and annual leave entitlement in Spain and Italy for a side-by-side picture of how Colombia compares to other major Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days of annual leave do employees get in Colombia?

Employees are entitled to 15 working days of paid annual leave per year of service under article 186 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo. The right vests after 12 months of continuous service.

Are the 15 days working days or calendar days?

Working days (días hábiles). Weekends and statutory public holidays that fall inside the leave block do not count toward the 15.

Do part-time employees get the same vacaciones?

Yes. The entitlement is expressed in days, not hours, so part-time employees who complete a year of service earn the same 15 working days as full-time colleagues.

Can annual leave be carried forward?

The CST contemplates leave being taken in the year following the accrual period. Carry-over beyond that is permitted by agreement between employer and employee, but it should be documented and treated as the exception.

Can vacaciones be paid out instead of taken?

In limited circumstances. Article 189 of the CST allows up to half of the accrued leave to be compensated in money by agreement, but the right to actually rest is the rule and cash-out is the exception.

What happens to unused leave on termination?

It is paid out. The liquidación must include any accrued but untaken vacaciones, including pro-rated leave for an incomplete accrual period. There is no forfeiture, regardless of who ended the relationship.

Does the entitlement apply to fixed-term and project-based contracts?

Yes. All employee contract types under the CST qualify — indefinite, fixed-term, and por obra o labor. Independent contractors under a prestación de servicios arrangement do not.

How Leave Balance Helps With Colombian Compliance

Tracking anniversary-based accruals, applying the 15-working-day entitlement, scheduling leave inside the year following the accrual period, and producing a clean termination payout is exactly the kind of admin Colombian HR teams do not want sitting on a spreadsheet.

Leave Balance handles it for you:

Country-specific accrual rules for Colombia, with vacaciones measured in working days against each employee’s hire-date anniversary.
Anniversary-based leave years so balances don’t drift into a calendar-year mismatch.
Termination payouts that respect the CST rules on pro-rated leave with no forfeiture.
Multi-country support for teams that span Colombia, the rest of Latin America, and beyond — all on one flat $10/month plan with unlimited employees.