Severance, Notice and Leave Pay Calculator Kenya 2026

What you may be owed when a job ends

The Employment Act 2007 sets minimum amounts an employer must pay when employment ends, and a contract can promise more. This calculator covers four of them:

• Severance pay, which is payable when an employee is declared redundant. The Act's minimum is 15 days' pay for each completed year of service.
• Pay in lieu of notice, which an employer owes when it ends the contract without giving the notice the contract requires.
• Pay for accrued leave, which covers annual leave days earned and not taken. The statutory minimum leave is 21 working days a year.
• Unpaid salary for days worked in the final month and not yet paid.

Severance is only for redundancy

Severance pay under the Act applies to redundancy: where the employer ends the job because the position is no longer needed. It does not apply when an employee resigns or is dismissed for gross misconduct. If you were dismissed, you may still be owed notice pay, leave pay and unpaid salary. The calculator has a box for redundancy so that it only includes severance when it applies.

How each amount is worked out

The calculator uses a daily rate of your monthly basic salary divided by 30, which is the usual convention. Then:

1. Severance = daily rate × severance days × completed years of service.
2. Notice pay = monthly basic salary × the number of months of notice in lieu.
3. Leave pay = daily rate × unused leave days.
4. Unpaid salary = daily rate × days worked and not paid.

Only completed years count for severance: an employee with four years and eleven months of service is treated as having four.

A worked example

For a monthly basic salary of KES 60,000, five completed years of service on redundancy, one month's notice in lieu, ten unused leave days and ten unpaid days, the total before tax is KES 250,000.00.

Which pay counts

Use basic salary unless your contract or a collective agreement defines the pay for these calculations differently, for example to include a house allowance. If your contract gives more generous terms than the Act, such as a month's pay for each year, enter that logic by adjusting the numbers, because the Act only sets the minimum.

These amounts are before tax

Terminal dues are generally taxed as income. After you get the gross figure here, use the terminal dues tax calculator to estimate the PAYE and other deductions that will come off it.

If you think you are owed more

Ask your employer for a written breakdown. If you disagree, you can raise a complaint with the labour office in your county, which can help resolve the dispute, or go to the Employment and Labour Relations Court. Keep your contract, payslips and any correspondence about leave and notice.

About the result

This is a general estimate for information only. Collective agreements, contract terms and the circumstances of the termination all affect what is owed. It is not legal advice, so speak to a labour officer or lawyer for a dispute.

Settlement agreements

Employers sometimes offer a settlement in exchange for a signed release. Before you sign, compare the offer with the statutory amounts in the calculator, ask for the offer in writing, and check whether it covers all items: notice, leave, severance, unpaid salary, certificate of service and any bonus you were entitled to. You are entitled to a certificate of service when employment ends. If the offer is lower than the statutory minimum, ask a labour officer or lawyer for advice before you agree.

Keep every document from the exit: the termination letter, the final payslip, the clearance form and the certificate of service. If the amounts are later disputed, these papers establish dates, pay rates and what was actually paid, and they are what a labour officer or the court will ask for first.

Guides, tools and templates for this topic

Read next: How PAYE is calculated in Kenya, step by step, NSSF contributions explained: tiers, limits and what you pay, Gross pay versus net pay: how to negotiate a salary in Kenya

Related calculators: Terminal Dues Tax Calculator, Overtime Pay Calculator, PAYE Calculator

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