Government Job Leave Rules in Pakistan — Casual, Earned and Medical Leave Explained in Simple Words

You have joined a government job, or you are about to, and one of the first practical questions is simple: how much leave do I get, and how do I take it? A day off for a family event, a week for illness, a longer break after years of service — each of these is a different kind of leave, with different rules, different limits, and a different application.

This guide explains the leave system for government servants in Pakistan in plain words: casual leave, earned leave, medical leave, and the special leaves that apply in particular situations. It also explains what leave you get in your first year, how to apply without mistakes, and what to do when leave is refused. The main rules quoted here are the federal Revised Leave Rules, 1980, and the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act, 2023 for federal establishments. Provincial rules differ in places — Punjab, for example, allows 25 days of casual leave in a year where the federal limit is 20 — so always check the rules that apply to your own department and province before you rely on a figure.

1. The Basic Idea: Leave Is Not All the Same

The first thing to understand is that "leave" is not one thing. Government service has several kinds of leave, and each kind has its own purpose and its own limit:

• Casual leave is for short, sudden needs — a day or two for a personal matter. It is not counted as absence from duty, and it does not come out of your leave account.
• Earned leave, also called leave on full pay, is the leave you build up by working. You earn it month by month, and it is recorded in your leave account.
• Medical leave is earned leave taken on the basis of a medical certificate, with longer limits than ordinary earned leave.
• Special leaves cover particular situations: maternity and paternity leave, recreation leave, study leave, leave preparatory to retirement, and leave without pay.

Mixing these up is the most common mistake new employees make. Asking for earned leave when casual leave would do wastes your earned balance; asking for casual leave for a three-week illness will be refused because casual leave cannot stretch that far. Knowing which kind fits your situation is half the battle.

2. Casual Leave: Short Days Off, With a Yearly Limit

Casual leave is the leave most government servants use most often. It covers short absences — a family function, a personal errand, a day when you cannot come to office — and it has three features that make it different from every other kind of leave:

• It is not treated as absence from duty, and your pay and allowances continue as normal.
• It is not entered in your leave account, so it does not reduce your earned leave balance.
• It lapses at the end of the year. Unused casual leave cannot be carried forward to the next year, and it cannot be encashed.

The limits, for federal government offices, are these: casual leave is allowed up to a maximum of 20 days in a calendar year, and it should not ordinarily exceed 10 days at a time. In Punjab, under the Punjab Casual Leave Rules, the yearly limit is 25 days, with the same 10-days-at-a-time rule, and up to 15 days at a time in special circumstances. Other provinces have their own figures, so confirm your province's limit from your office's rule book or administration section.

Other points about casual leave that new employees should know:

• Casual leave cannot be claimed as a matter of right. It is granted by the competent authority, and it can be refused if your presence is absolutely necessary, there is an official emergency, or extraordinary official circumstances exist. In practice, routine casual leave is granted almost always, but the authority to refuse exists.
• It cannot be combined with any other kind of leave or with joining time. It can, however, be combined with public holidays — in Punjab the combined period should not exceed 15 days at a time.
• It cannot be taken in a way that evades the rules about returning to duty. Leaving headquarters during casual leave without permission, or stretching it by joining it to other leave, can be treated as a disciplinary matter.
• A record of casual leave must be maintained by every office, so that no one exceeds the yearly maximum. Keep your own count too, so you are never surprised at the end of the year.

Practical advice: use casual leave for what it is meant for — short, occasional absences. If you need more than 10 days at a time, or you know in advance that you will be away for weeks, that is earned leave, not casual leave, and you should apply for it properly.

3. Earned Leave: The Leave You Build Up by Working

Earned leave is the backbone of the leave system. Under the Revised Leave Rules, 1980, a federal civil servant earns leave on full pay at the rate of four days for every calendar month of duty. A month in which you worked 15 days or less earns nothing; a month in which you worked more than 15 days counts as a full month. Leave is not earned during a period of leave itself — only duty counts.

Two features of earned leave matter most:

• There is no maximum limit on accumulation. Your earned leave keeps building up, month after month, year after year, and the balance stays in your leave account.
• The maximum that can be granted at one time is 120 days without a medical certificate, and 180 days with a medical certificate. On medical certificate, the total that can be taken from the leave account in your entire service is 365 days.

Earned leave can be converted, at your option, into leave on half pay: one day of leave on full pay becomes two days on half pay. That is useful when you need a longer absence and your full-pay balance is not enough, but remember that half pay means exactly that — half your pay for that period.

Leave must be applied for, sanctioned, and recorded in days. Apply in writing to the authority competent to sanction your leave — for most non-gazetted staff, that is the authority empowered to fill the post; for gazetted officers, the head of department or the principal accounting officer. Never leave station without waiting for sanction unless the rules of your department expressly allow it, because absence without sanction can be treated as unauthorised absence.

4. Medical Leave: When Illness Needs More Than a Few Days

Medical leave is not a separate pot of leave. It is earned leave taken on the strength of a medical certificate, and the certificate is what unlocks the longer limits: up to 180 days at one time with a medical certificate, against 120 days without one, and up to 365 days in total on medical certificate in your entire service.

What to do when you fall ill:

• Inform your office as soon as you can, and get a medical certificate from the authorised medical attendant or a registered medical practitioner, as your department's rules require. A certificate from an unauthorised source can be rejected.
• Apply for leave on full pay on medical grounds, attaching the certificate. If the illness continues beyond the period first sanctioned, apply for an extension before the first period expires, with a fresh certificate.
• On return, you may be asked for a fitness certificate before resuming duty, particularly after a long illness. Do not treat this as a formality to skip — joining without it can create a record problem later.
• Keep copies of every certificate, application, and sanction order. Medical leave is the kind of leave most likely to be checked years later, for example when your service record is reviewed.

A related point: leave on medical grounds can be combined with other kinds of leave, and maternity leave can also be combined with other leave. Casual leave, by contrast, cannot be combined with other leave at all.

5. Leave in Your First Year: Joining and Probation

New employees often ask the same question: can I take leave in my first year? The honest answer is that it depends on the kind of leave and on your department's practice.

• Casual leave is normally available from the start, within the yearly limit, because it is not earned leave and does not depend on a balance built up over time.
• Earned leave starts building up from your first month of duty, at four days per month, but your balance in the first months is small. A long spell of earned leave during probation is not normally granted, and your department may expect you to complete your probation period before taking extended leave. Our guide on the probation period explains what those first months normally involve.
• If you fall ill during probation, medical leave on certificate is still available, and no department expects an employee to work through serious illness. Apply promptly, with a proper certificate, and inform your supervisor.
• During probation, keep your leave record clean. Frequent, unexplained absence in the first months is one of the things a confirming authority notices. Short, properly applied-for leave is normal; absence without sanction is not.

If you are joining from another government post, your leave account and service record travel with you — but confirm that the transfer of your leave record has actually been done, rather than assuming it.

6. Maternity, Paternity and Other Special Leaves

Some leaves exist for specific life events, and their rules have changed in recent years. The figures below are the federal position; provincial rules can differ, so check your own.

• Maternity leave: under the Revised Leave Rules, 1980, a female civil servant could be granted up to 90 days of maternity leave on full pay outside her leave account, for up to three times in her entire service. The Maternity and Paternity Leave Act, 2023, which applies to public and private establishments under the administrative control of the federal government, gives more: 180 days on first birth, 120 days on second birth, and 90 days on third birth, on full pay outside the leave account, for up to three times in service. If you are a federal employee, the 2023 Act is the law that governs your entitlement.
• Paternity leave: under the older Punjab rules, a male civil servant could be granted 7 days of paternity leave on full pay outside his leave account, for two times in service. Under the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act, 2023, a male federal employee is entitled to up to 30 days of paternity leave on full pay outside his leave account, for up to three times in service.
• Recreation leave: a civil servant is entitled to 15 days of recreation leave in a year, of which only 10 days are debited to the leave account as leave on full pay.
• Leave not due: leave on full pay granted in advance, to be offset against leave you will earn in future. The maximum is 365 days in your entire service, and not more than 90 days in all during the first five years of service.
• Extraordinary leave, or leave without pay: granted when no other leave is due or admissible. It is not debited to the leave account, but no pay is admissible and no leave is earned during it.
• Study leave: granted to enable a government servant to study a scientific or technical subject or to undergo a special course of instruction. The maximum period is four years, it is not debited to the leave account, and leave salary during study leave is half pay plus a study allowance, under the rules that govern it.
• Special leave: a female government servant is entitled to special leave of 130 days on full pay, outside her leave account, on the death of her husband.
• Disability leave: up to 720 days may be granted for a disability caused by service, under the rules that govern it.
• Leave preparatory to retirement (LPR): the maximum period is 365 days, and a civil servant may opt for encashment of LPR instead of taking it, under the rules in force at the time.

The common thread: special leaves are outside your ordinary leave account, or they have their own limits. Never assume a special leave is automatic — each one has its own conditions, certificates, and sanctioning authority.

7. How to Apply for Leave Without Mistakes

A leave application is a small document, but a careless one causes most leave problems. Follow this sequence:

• Decide which kind of leave fits: casual for a day or two, earned for a longer planned absence, medical with a certificate for illness.
• Check your balance first. For earned leave, ask your administration section for your leave-account balance before you apply, so you do not ask for more than you have.
• Apply in writing, in advance wherever possible. State the kind of leave, the exact dates, the reason in a sentence or two, and your address and contact details during leave. Attach the medical certificate if the leave is on medical grounds.
• Address it to the competent authority, and route it through your immediate supervisor or section head, as your office practice requires. An application that never reaches the sanctioning authority is the same as no application.
• Wait for sanction before you leave station. If the matter is genuinely urgent, inform your supervisor by phone or message the same day and follow it with a written application immediately.
• On return, report for duty on the date your leave ends, and get your joining noted. If you need an extension, apply for it before the sanctioned period expires — not after you have already overstayed.

Keep a copy of every application and every sanction order, with dates. Your leave record is part of your service record, and it is reviewed at confirmation, promotion, and retirement.

8. When Leave Is Refused, Delayed, or You Overstay

Leave is a facility, not an unconditional right, and refusal happens. What matters is how you respond.

• If casual leave is refused because your presence is necessary, accept it and reapply for other dates. Arguing with the sanctioning authority, or simply staying away, turns a small matter into a disciplinary one.
• If earned leave is refused or curtailed for service reasons, ask, politely and in writing, when it can be granted. A refusal should be recorded; an unrecorded verbal refusal that you then ignore helps no one.
• If you overstay your leave — you do not return on the date your leave ends — inform your office immediately and apply for an extension with reasons. Overstay without intimation can be treated as absence from duty, and a long unexplained absence can lead to disciplinary proceedings.
• If you are on leave and your office recalls you for an emergency, return as directed and keep the recall order. Leave already sanctioned can be curtailed in genuine emergencies, but the curtailment should be recorded and your unused balance restored.
• If you believe leave was refused unfairly or your leave account has been wrongly calculated, raise it first with your administration section, with your record in hand. Most leave-account errors are arithmetic or posting errors, and they are corrected once pointed out with the sanction orders.

Never resign yourself to an incorrect leave record. The balance in your leave account affects your pay during leave, your encashment at retirement, and your LPR — and errors grow harder to correct the longer they sit.

9. Leave, Pay, and Your Service Record

Leave is not only about days off. It touches your pay and your record in ways worth knowing:

• During casual leave, and during leave on full pay, your pay continues. During leave on half pay, you receive half pay. During extraordinary leave, no pay is admissible.
• Leave pay during leave on full pay is calculated on the basis of your average monthly pay, under the rules. If you are unsure what you will be paid during a long leave, ask your accounts section before you go, not after you return.
• Leave is not earned during any kind of leave, except quarantine leave. That means a long leave does not add to your balance while you are on it.
• A civil servant in a vacation department — for example, a teacher in an institution with long vacations — earns leave at a different rate: one day for every calendar month of duty if the full vacation is availed. If the vacation is not availed, the rate is higher, under the rules for vacation departments. If you work in a school or college, confirm which rate applies to you.
• Your leave account is maintained on a prescribed form, and every sanction, every debit, and every credit should be entered in it. At retirement, the balance in that account is the basis for LPR or its encashment. Check it at least once a year, and correct errors while the record is still fresh.

10. A Quick Checklist Before You Apply

Use this checklist every time you apply for leave:

• Which kind of leave is this — casual, earned, medical, or special — and does it fit the length of absence I need?
• Have I checked my casual-leave count for the year, or my earned-leave balance, as the case requires?
• Have I applied in writing, in advance, to the competent authority, with the certificate attached if it is medical leave?
• Have I waited for sanction, or at least informed my supervisor, before leaving station?
• Do I know my return date, and have I arranged to apply for an extension before that date if I need one?
• Have I kept a copy of the application and the sanction order?

If the answer to any of these is no, fix it before you go. A few minutes spent on the application saves weeks of record problems later.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days of casual leave can a government servant take in a year in Pakistan?

For federal government offices, casual leave is allowed up to a maximum of 20 days in a calendar year, and not ordinarily more than 10 days at a time. In Punjab the yearly limit is 25 days. Other provinces have their own limits, so check the rules that apply to your department. Unused casual leave lapses at the end of the year.

How is earned leave calculated?

Under the federal Revised Leave Rules, 1980, a civil servant earns leave on full pay at the rate of four days for every calendar month of duty. A month with 15 days or less of duty earns nothing; more than 15 days counts as a full month. There is no maximum limit on accumulation. The maximum that can be granted at one time is 120 days without a medical certificate and 180 days with one.

Can I take leave during my probation period?

Casual leave is normally available during probation, within the yearly limit. Earned leave builds up from your first month of duty, but your balance is small at first, and a long spell of earned leave during probation is not normally granted. Medical leave on certificate is available if you fall ill. Keep your leave record clean during probation, and always apply properly.

What is the difference between casual leave and earned leave?

Casual leave is for short absences of a day or two, is not treated as absence from duty, is not entered in the leave account, and lapses at the end of the year. Earned leave is built up by working, is recorded in your leave account, can be accumulated without limit, and can be taken for longer periods. Casual leave cannot be combined with other leave; earned leave can be combined with other kinds of leave.

How much maternity leave does a female federal government employee get?

Under the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act, 2023, a female federal employee is entitled to maternity leave on full pay outside her leave account: 180 days on first birth, 120 days on second birth, and 90 days on third birth, for up to three times in service. The older Revised Leave Rules, 1980, provided 90 days. Provincial employees should check their province's rules, which may differ.

How much paternity leave does a male government employee get?

Under the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act, 2023, a male federal employee is entitled to up to 30 days of paternity leave on full pay outside his leave account, for up to three times in service. Under the older Punjab rules, the entitlement was 7 days for two times in service. Check which rules govern your post.

Can casual leave be combined with a public holiday?

Yes, casual leave can be combined with public holidays, but it cannot be combined with any other kind of leave or with joining time. In Punjab, the combined period of casual leave and holidays should not exceed 15 days at a time. Confirm the combined limit in your own department's rules.

What happens if I overstay my leave?

Inform your office immediately and apply for an extension with reasons, before or as soon as you know you cannot return on time. Overstay without intimation can be treated as absence from duty and may lead to disciplinary proceedings. A genuine reason, communicated promptly, is treated very differently from an unexplained absence.

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