In Taiwan, statutory annual leave is called special leave — tèbié xiūjià (特別休假) — and it is one of the more service-weighted entitlements in APAC. New hires can claim leave after just six months. Long-service employees pick up an extra day every year past the ten-year mark, all the way to a 30-day cap. And every twelve months, the employer has an explicit duty to notify each employee of the days they have available and to pay out anything left unused.

This guide walks through Article 38 of the Labor Standards Act (Láodòng Jīzhǔn Fǎ), the service-based accrual table, who qualifies, the employer’s annual notice and payout obligations, and the pitfalls that most often catch foreign-owned employers and smaller Taiwanese SMEs.

Key Takeaways

The statutory entitlement starts at 3 days of paid special leave after 6 months of continuous service.
Entitlement increases with tenure: 7 days at 1 year, 10 days at 2 years, 14 days at 3 years, and 15 days at 5 years.
After 10 years of service, the entitlement grows by one additional day per year, capped at 30 days.
Employees choose when to take their leave, subject to operational requirements.
Employers must notify each employee in writing every year of their entitlement and pay out any unused balance at year end or on termination.
The legal basis is Article 38 of the Labor Standards Act and the Enforcement Rules.

Statutory Entitlement Under Article 38

Article 38 of the Labor Standards Act sets the minimum special leave for every covered employee in Taiwan. Unlike Japan or South Korea, where the entitlement starts at 10 or 15 days, Taiwan begins with a smaller initial grant and rewards length of service heavily over time.

How Special Leave Accrues

The schedule moves quickly in the first few years and then settles into a one-day-per-year escalation after the decade mark:

Length of continuous service	Special leave entitlement
6 months to 1 year	3 days
1 to 2 years	7 days
2 to 3 years	10 days
3 to 5 years	14 days
5 to 10 years	15 days
10 years and above	+1 day per year (cap 30)

So an employee at the 11-year mark is entitled to 16 days, at 15 years 20 days, and at 25 years and beyond, the statutory cap of 30 days.

The entitlement is paid at the employee’s regular wage during the leave. Regular wages, in this context, include base pay and any fixed allowances paid for ordinary working time — not just basic salary.

Why the Service Anchor Matters

Special leave is anchored to continuous service with the same employer. Service does not transfer between employers, even within the same group of companies, unless the parties expressly agree. For employees who change roles internally — say, between subsidiaries — the contract should address whether prior service is recognised, otherwise the entitlement resets.

Eligibility: Who Qualifies for Special Leave

Special leave under Article 38 applies to all employees covered by the Labor Standards Act. That includes full-time, part-time, fixed-term, and dispatched workers. The only gating conditions are:

Coverage by the Labor Standards Act. The Act applies broadly across most industries; the small number of excluded categories are designated by the Ministry of Labor.
At least six months of continuous service with the same employer.

Part-time employees receive special leave on the same schedule as full-time employees — pro-rated to their working hours rather than their working days. Treating part-time staff as ineligible is one of the most common compliance errors and is explicitly addressed in the Ministry of Labor’s guidance.

If you operate elsewhere in APAC, Taiwan’s framework sits at the more employee-friendly end of the region. For comparison, see our breakdowns of annual leave entitlement in Japan, where leave starts at 10 days after six months and tops out at 20, and annual leave entitlement in South Korea, where the base entitlement is 15 days and the long-service cap is 25.

Employer Obligations

The Labor Standards Act and its Enforcement Rules put a clear set of duties on Taiwanese employers — and the annual notice obligation in particular is a meaningful point of difference from neighbouring jurisdictions.

Granting and Paying Leave Correctly

Employers must:

Grant the statutory minimum (3 to 30 days) based on each employee’s length of service.
Pay the employee’s regular wage during special leave.
Allow the employee to choose the timing of leave, subject to operational requirements.
Maintain accurate records of special leave taken by each employee.
Provide annual written notice of each employee’s special leave entitlement.
Pay out any unused balance on termination, or at year end if the employee does not carry it forward.
Not require the employee to forfeit special leave.

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The Annual Notice Obligation

Each year, the employer must notify the employee in writing of the days of special leave they are entitled to. This is not optional and not satisfied by a passive entry on a payroll portal. The notice typically goes out at the start of the leave year and is a critical evidence point if a dispute arises later about days accrued or paid out.

Carry-Over and Payout

If special leave is not taken within the leave year, two outcomes are possible:

Mutual agreement to carry forward. The employee and employer can agree to roll the unused days into the next year. Carry-over is not unilateral — it requires agreement.
Payout of unused leave. If the employee does not agree to carry forward — or asks to be paid for the unused balance — the employer must pay for the unused days at the regular daily wage rate.

On termination, all unused special leave must be paid out, regardless of how the employment ends.

The Right to Choose Timing — and Its Limits

Employees have the right to schedule their special leave. The employer cannot unilaterally assign dates, although operational requirements may be considered through consultation. A pattern of repeatedly refusing or shifting leave requests is a compliance risk: it implies pressure not to take leave, which the Ministry of Labor treats unfavourably.

Common Pitfalls for Employers in Taiwan

The combination of a service-tiered table, an annual written notice, and a mandatory year-end payout creates several recurring failure modes — particularly for foreign-owned employers running on payroll systems built for other jurisdictions.

1. Not Paying Out Unused Special Leave

The most common error is treating unused leave as forfeited at year end. Article 38 makes payout the default unless the employee actively agrees to carry the balance forward. Employers who skip the payout — or net it against other items — generate unpaid-wage exposure that surfaces in inspections and termination disputes.

2. Skipping the Annual Written Notice

The annual notice obligation is widely overlooked, especially by smaller and foreign-owned employers. If an inspector asks for evidence that each employee was informed of their entitlement and the employer cannot produce written notices, the burden shifts to the employer to disprove non-compliance.

3. Misclassifying Part-Time Employees

Part-time employees in Taiwan are entitled to special leave on the same service-based schedule as full-time employees, pro-rated to their working hours. Treating part-time workers as ineligible — or applying a separate, less generous formula — is a frequent and expensive compliance error.

4. Unilaterally Scheduling Leave

Employers occasionally try to assign special leave dates to manage workload — for example, scheduling everyone to take leave during a slow week. Article 38 reserves the timing right to the employee. Operational needs can be raised in consultation, but they are not a basis for unilateral assignment.

5. Confusing Special Leave With Other Leave Types

Special leave (特別休假) is distinct from sick leave, marriage leave, and funeral leave under Taiwan’s Act of Gender Equality in Employment and the Labor Standards Act. Each category has its own entitlement, payment rules, and documentation requirements. Combining them into a single bucket — or letting employees use special leave to cover what should be statutory sick leave — creates both compliance and payroll problems.

For payroll teams managing leave across multiple countries, see our guidance on tracking accrued leave correctly — the principles map cleanly to Taiwan’s regular-wage rule. For a broader overview of how special leave fits alongside the other statutory categories, see our main types of leave employers manage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days of special leave do employees get in Taiwan?

After 6 months of continuous service, employees receive 3 days of paid special leave. The entitlement grows to 7 days at one year, 10 days at two years, 14 days at three years, and 15 days at five years. From the 10-year mark, employees earn one additional day per year, capped at 30 days total.

Can special leave be carried forward to the next year?

Yes, by mutual agreement between the employee and employer. If the employee does not agree to carry forward — or requests payout — the employer must pay for the unused leave at the employee’s regular daily wage rate.

Are part-time employees entitled to special leave?

Yes. Part-time employees are entitled to special leave on the same service-based schedule as full-time employees, pro-rated to their working hours. Article 38 does not create a separate, smaller entitlement for part-time staff.

What is the payment rate for unused special leave?

Unused special leave is paid at the employee’s regular daily wage rate, including regular wages and fixed allowances paid for ordinary working time. It is not limited to basic salary.

Does the employer have to remind employees of their special leave?

Yes. Each year, the employer must notify the employee in writing of their special leave entitlement. The notice is a statutory obligation, not a courtesy, and is a key evidence point in any later dispute about accrual or payout.

How Leave Balance Helps

Tracking the service-tiered Article 38 schedule, issuing annual written notices, monitoring carry-over agreements, and paying out unused balances at year end and on termination is real operational work — particularly for foreign-owned employers running on payroll systems built for other jurisdictions.

Leave Balance handles the entire workflow. You can configure Taiwan-specific accrual schedules across the full 6-month to 30-day range, generate the annual entitlement notices required under Article 38, and capture written carry-over agreements in the audit trail. Approvals run through Slack or Microsoft Teams where your team already works, and the audit log doubles as your leave records evidence. Pricing is a flat USD $10/month — not per employee — so the cost stays the same whether your Taipei office has 5 people or 500.