Good day 

1. The basic employment conditions act, sets out leave however if you are earning above the threshold certain sections will not apply depending on your position.

2. The legal stance with regards to leave is as follows; leave is accrued  annually this is on a 12 month cycle. The employee is entitled to take all of his/her leave by the end of the cycle. The employer will have to pay out in working days for every single leave day that has not been used. The employers know this and instead of having to pay out 20 employees leave at the end of the year (which could be quite costly) they encourage their employees to take their leave.

3. The employer may choose when to grant leave, however if the employee has not used up her/his leave by the end of the 12 month cycle the employer will have to pay out all the leave entitled to the employee. 

4. If the employee has not been paid out for her/his leave at all for at least three years and has not taken leave for said period of time then the employee can take the matter to the CCMA or Labour Court and sue for the three years of leave.