| (1) | An employer shall grant every employee, other than a watchman, annual leave of not less than 21 calendar days (i.e. 15 working days for employees working 5-day weeks, of which at least 10 working days must be taken in December/January). The leave period or periods will be determined by agreement in terms of clause 17. |
| (2) | A watchman shall be granted 23 consecutive calendar days leave in respect of every 12 months’ employment and at the reasonable convenience of the employer, provided that it be granted within 3 months of the completion of the year of employment to which it relates. |
Calculation of leave allowance
| (3) | The leave allowance shall be calculated at the rate of remuneration that the employee was receiving immediately prior to the date on which leave is granted or on which his employment is terminated, as appropriate. The rate of remuneration used shall be the B-rate unless the employee earns a premium in which case the rate of remuneration used shall be the premium rate, except where employees are on a wage incentive scheme in terms of this Agreement. |
| (4) | Where an employee was remunerated on a basis other than in accordance with the time actually worked by him, his rate of remuneration for the purpose of calculating the leave allowance shall be calculated as though he was paid by the hour. The hourly rate is determined by dividing the total remuneration earned by him in the preceding eight weeks of employment or the actual period worked by him, whichever is the shorter, by the total number of hours worked during the same period. |
| (5) | Employment for 15 consecutive calendar days or more shall be considered employment for a month for the purpose of calculation of the leave allowance. |
| (6) | Where an employee’s services are terminated, the employer shall pay the employee the amount of leave allowance due to him at date of termination. In the event of the termination of the services of a watchman, he shall be paid a leave allowance equal to one fourth of his weekly wage for each completed month of service. |
| (7) | Where an employee’s services are terminated at any time during the months of November or December, he shall be entitled to the full leave allowance for both November and December, except where his service was terminated for any cause recognised by law as sufficient to justify instant dismissal. Provided that where the employee has received one day’s leave allowance for a month he shall not be entitled to a further day’s leave allowance. |
| (8) | A female employee who goes on maternity leave during October, November or December shall be paid the full leave allowance when the establishment closes for the annual leave period. |
| (9) | Periods of absence for annual leave, maternity leave, illness, or on the instructions or at the request of the employer shall be considered employment for the purpose of calculating the leave allowance. However, where an employee is absent due to illness or confinement of more than three consecutive days and fails to give an employer a medical certificate after being requested to do so, or where the employee fails to give a medical certificate for any absence in excess of a total period of 30 days in any 12 month period, such periods of absence shall not be considered employment for the purpose of calculating the leave allowance. |
| (10) | Notification of commencement of annual leave |
An employer shall give his employees:
| (a) | at least 30 days' notice of the latest date on which annual leave will commence and the earliest date on which the factory will re-open; and |
| (b) | notice of the actual date on which the factory will re-open. |
| (1) | Public Holidays shall be granted in terms of the Public Holidays Act, 1994 (Act No.36 of 1994). |
| (2) | Public holidays granted in terms of the Public Holidays Act (Act 36 of 1994), will be holidays with pay. In the event of a public holiday falling on a Saturday, payment for such holiday will be calculated at one-fifth of the ordinary weekly wage. |
| (3) | Where an employee works on a public holiday, he shall be paid for his time worked, in addition to the pay in terms of sub-clause (2). |
| (1) | Maternity leave means a period, excluding the annual leave period, during which a female employee is absent for the birth of her child for not more than 4 weeks before the expected date of birth and not more than 20 weeks after the date of birth. |
| (2) | The employee shall notify the employer in writing at least 4 weeks in advance of the date on which she will return to work after maternity leave. |
| (3) | An employee shall be entitled to be re-engaged after her maternity leave, provided she had one year’s employment with an employer before proceeding on maternity leave, |
| (4) | An employee shall be re-engaged at the same rate of pay she received prior to her maternity leave, but does not have to be re-engaged on the same operation. Where an employee in these circumstances are paid a higher rate than the prescribed rate for the operation in which she is re-engaged, it shall not be considered a premium wage rate for the purpose of 8.1(13). |
| 7.4 | Other leave of absence |
| (1) | Employees who are required to undergo X-Rays relating to Tuberculosis detection shall be paid in full for time lost in respect of such absence. |
[Section 7(7.4)(1) substituted by section 3 of Notice No. R.1382, GG42789, dated 25 October 2019]
| (2) | A female employee shall be granted 5 occasions of 4.2 hours paid leave for the duration of her pregnancy for the purpose of attending pre-natal clinics. |
| 7.5 | Family Responsibility Leave |
| (1) | This subclause applies to an employee— |
| (a) | who has been in employment with an employer for longer than four months; and |
| (b) | who works for at least four days a week for that employer. |
| (2) | An employer must grant an employee, during each annual leave cycle, at the request of the employee, four days paid leave, which the employee is entitled to take— |
| (a) | when an employee's child is born; |
| (b) | when an employee's child is sick; or |
| (c) | in the event of the death of— |
| (i) | the employee's spouse or life partner; or |
| (ii) | the employee's parent, adoptive parent, grandparent, child, adopted child, grandchild or sibling. |
| (d) | when an employee's spouse is hospitalized or has a chronic/serious illness. |
[Section 7(7.5)(2) substituted by section 3 of Notice No. R.2706, GG47443, dated 4 November 2022]
| (3) | Subject to subclause (2), an employer must pay an employee for a day’s family responsibility leave— |
| (a) | the wage the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day; and |
| (b) | on the employee’s usual pay day. |
| (4) | An employee may take family responsibility leave in respect of the whole or part of a day. |
| (5) | Before paying an employee leave in terms of this section, an employer may require reasonable proof of an event contemplated in subclause (2) for which the leave was required. |
| (6) | An employee’s unused entitlement to leave in terms of this provision lapses at the end of the annual leave cycle in which it accrues. |
| (1) | During every thirty six month sick leave cycle, an employee’s entitlement to paid sick leave will be limited to ten (10) days in each 12 months. This limitation shall not apply to employees whose incapacitation owing to illness or hospitalization exceeds a period of ten (10) days. In such event, the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act shall apply. |
| (2) | The sick leave cycle runs from 1 January to 31 December. For July 2008 to December 2008, there will be a capping of ten (10) days. |
| (3) | Despite subclause (1) above, during the first six months of employment, an employee is entitled to one day’s paid sick leave for every 26 days worked. |
| (4) | Employers shall not be required to pay employees in terms of the provision in subclause (1), if, on request by the employer, the employee does not produce a medical certificate stating that the employee was unable to work for the duration of the employee’s absence on account of sickness or injury. |
