Leave Policy Effective for the calendar year 1 January – 31 December (unless a newer version is published). 1. Purpose This policy sets paid leave entitlements and the rules for applying, approving, and recording leave. It applies to confirmed full-time staff. Separate statutory leaves (e.g. maternity) are handled under their own policies where applicable. 2. Probation and internship During a probation period or an internship of up to six months, paid leave is not permitted. Unpaid leave (Leave Without Pay / LWP) may still be applied for, subject to manager approval. Paid leave becomes available from the day after probation ends (as recorded on the employee record), or after internship ends and the person is confirmed. 3. Annual entitlement (calendar year) • Casual Leave (CL): 7 days — accrues monthly at 0.58 days per completed month, capped at 7. • Sick Leave (SL): 7 days — granted in full for the calendar year (subject to confirmation / eligibility). • Personal / Privilege Leave (PL): 7 days — accrues monthly at 0.58 days per completed month, capped at 7. Rounding: accrued CL/PL is calculated to two decimal places and cannot exceed the annual cap of 7 days. Carry forward: unless a later policy says otherwise, unused CL, SL, and PL do not carry forward into the next calendar year. 4. Monthly limits From the available balance: • Casual Leave: at most 2 days in any calendar month. • Personal / Privilege Leave: at most 2 days in any calendar month. Sick Leave has no monthly cap other than the annual quota and medical-certificate rules below. 5. Sick leave and medical certificate • Sick leave of more than 2 consecutive working days requires a doctor's certificate attached to the leave request. • If a certificate is not provided when required, the absence must be taken as Unpaid / LWP (not SL). • Shorter sick leave (1–2 working days) does not require a certificate under this policy, unless the manager or HR asks for one in a specific case. 6. Advance leave With prior manager approval, an employee may take: • up to 1 day of Casual Leave in advance of accrual, and • up to 1 day of Personal / Privilege Leave in advance of accrual, provided the annual cap and monthly limits are still respected. Advance days are recovered as future months accrue. 7. Combining leave types Casual Leave, Personal / Privilege Leave, and Sick Leave must not be taken together in one continuous spell. "Together" means overlapping dates or adjacent working days (including when a weekend or holiday sits between two leave days of different types). Apply one type per spell. 8. Sandwich rule If leave is taken on working days that sit on both sides of a weekly off or public/company holiday, the intervening off day(s) are counted as leave and deducted from the leave balance, when sandwich rules are enabled for the employee’s workforce / site / department. Company holidays (including an optional holiday the employee has opted for that year) are treated as paid rest for sandwich purposes when they apply to that employee. 9. Notice and approval • Casual Leave and Personal / Privilege Leave must be applied and approved at least one calendar day before the leave start date, with day planning adjusted with the reporting manager (and covering subordinate where required). • The reporting manager is the first approver; HR may override where needed. • Sick leave and unpaid leave may be applied with shorter notice when the situation requires it; approval is still required. 10. Unpaid leave (LWP) Unpaid leave may be used when paid balances are exhausted, during probation/internship, or when a medical certificate is required for sick leave but not supplied. Unpaid leave is treated as LOP for payroll. 11. System of record Leave balances, requests, sandwich consumption, and attendance marks (On Leave) in Seamlyx are the system of record for this policy. Managers and HR must not approve informal leave outside the system. 12. Exceptions Any exception to this policy requires written approval from HR (and the reporting manager where applicable) and should be recorded on the leave request or in an HR note.