Brazil Vacation Pay Calculator (Cálculo de Férias CLT)
Calculate Brazilian vacation pay (Férias) from monthly salary, unjustified absences, and optional abono pecuniário (cash conversion) days, following CLT Article 130's entitlement tiers and the constitutional one-third bonus.
CLT Article 130: vacation entitlement by unjustified absences
The number of unjustified absences during the 12-month acquisitive period determines both the vacation-day entitlement and the maximum days convertible to cash (abono pecuniário).
| Unjustified absences | Entitled days | Max convertible days |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | 30 | 10 |
| 6–14 | 24 | 8 |
| 15–23 | 18 | 6 |
| 24–32 | 12 | 4 |
| 33+ | 0 | 0 |
33 or more absences forfeits the vacation right entirely (0 entitled days).
What is Brazilian vacation pay (Férias)?
Brazil's labor code, the CLT (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho), requires employers to grant 30 days of paid vacation for every 12 months an employment contract remains in force. But those 30 days aren't unconditional: CLT Article 130 reduces the entitlement based on how many unjustified absences occurred during that 12-month "período aquisitivo" (acquisitive period), stepping down through 30, 24, 18, and 12 days, with total forfeiture above a threshold. On top of that, Article 7, XVII of the 1988 Federal Constitution requires an additional payment of at least one-third of normal pay on top of vacation pay — the "terço constitucional."
This tool takes your monthly base salary and number of absences, determines your entitlement under CLT Article 130, and calculates your estimated payout including the one-third constitutional bonus. If you choose to convert part of your entitlement to cash instead of taking time off — the "abono pecuniário" under CLT Article 143, capped at one-third of your entitled days — the tool breaks down that portion separately so you can see exactly how the split affects your payout.
Sources used in this calculation
Statutory figures such as tax and insurance rates come from the public bodies listed below. They change when the law is revised, so please also check the primary source before relying on the result for an important decision.
- Brazilian vacation pay (Férias) entitlement tiers and one-third bonus rules — Brazilian Federal Legislation Portal (Planalto) Effective from 1988-10 ／ Last checked 2026-09-07
How to use this vacation pay calculator
- Enter your monthly base salary Enter your monthly base salary in reais (BRL), before tax and social security deductions.
- Enter your unjustified absences for the acquisitive period The number of unjustified absences over the last 12 months. More absences step down your entitlement.
- Enter how many days you want to convert to cash Leave this at 0 to calculate the full entitlement as time off, or enter a number of days for abono pecuniário.
- Review the breakdown See the base pay and one-third bonus for both the time-off portion and the abono pecuniário portion, plus the estimated total payout.
Tips for getting more out of it
- Absences during the acquisitive period affect not just your vacation entitlement, but also the maximum days convertible to cash (one-third of your entitled days) — more absences shrink both.
- Since the one-third bonus applies equally to both the time-off portion and the abono pecuniário portion, changing the split doesn't change your total estimated payout. It's purely a choice between cash now and time off.
- A request for abono pecuniário must be made 15 days before the end of the acquisitive period — it's not something to decide at the last minute before your vacation starts.
- This tool only considers your monthly base salary. It doesn't include bonuses, allowances, or average overtime pay, so your actual employer-calculated amount may differ.
- This tool calculates the gross amount before deductions. Your actual take-home pay depends on INSS and IRRF withholding, so it won't match the net figure on your vacation pay slip (recibo de férias).
Common use cases
Checking your expected payout before taking vacation
Get a rough estimate of the amount that should appear on your vacation pay slip (recibo de férias) before you go on leave.
Deciding whether to request abono pecuniário
Compare taking your full entitlement as time off versus converting part of it to cash — since both receive the same one-third bonus, the total payout itself doesn't change with the split.
Understanding the impact of a high-absence year
Enter your actual absence count to see how the step-down tiers in CLT Article 130 reduce your vacation entitlement.
Quick estimates for HR and payroll staff
Re-enter different employee scenarios to quickly estimate gross vacation payouts.
Glossary
- Férias (paid vacation)
- A paid vacation entitlement under Brazil's CLT, granted for every 12 months an employment contract remains in force. Normally 30 days, but reduced based on unjustified absences during the acquisitive period.
- Acquisitive period (período aquisitivo)
- The 12-month period used to determine vacation entitlement. Unjustified absences during this period determine the entitled days (30/24/18/12/0) under CLT Article 130.
- One-third constitutional bonus (terço constitucional)
- A payment required by Article 7, XVII of the 1988 Constitution, adding at least one-third of normal pay to vacation pay. It applies at the same rate to both the time-off portion and any portion converted to cash (abono pecuniário).
- Abono pecuniário (vacation cash conversion)
- Under CLT Article 143, an employee may convert up to one-third of their entitled vacation days into a cash payment instead of taking time off. The request must be made at least 15 days before the end of the acquisitive period.
- CLT (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho)
- Brazil's comprehensive labor code. The rules for vacation entitlement, the one-third bonus, and cash conversion all derive from the CLT and the 1988 Constitution.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — why does Brazil add a one-third bonus to vacation pay?
The "terço constitucional" — the one-third bonus added to Brazilian vacation pay — is a relatively recent addition, first codified in the current Constitution of 1988. The CLT itself, enacted in 1943, contained no such bonus; it only required that pay continue as usual during vacation. When drafting the 1988 Constitution, lawmakers wanted vacation to do more than simply avoid a pay cut — they wanted it to carry a bonus-like value that would meaningfully encourage workers to actually take time off, producing a rule that's unusual by international standards: paid time off that itself earns a premium.
The cap on abono pecuniário — limiting cash conversion to one-third of entitled days — wasn't arbitrary either. Without a cap, employees could convert nearly all of their vacation into cash, undermining the whole point of the entitlement: making sure workers actually rest. One-third strikes a balance, allowing some flexibility (say, for an unexpected expense) while still nudging most of the entitlement toward actual time off.
One notable detail is how consistently the step-down structure in CLT Article 130 — reducing entitlement based on absences — has survived since the CLT's original 1943 enactment. Despite decades of labor-law reform, the specific tiers of 30, 24, 18, and 12 days have remained essentially untouched, reflecting how deeply the link between attendance and vacation length is embedded in Brazilian labor practice.