Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995)NoticesNational Bargaining Council of SA Leather IndustryGeneral Goods and Handbag SectionCollective Agreement8. Public Holidays, Annual Holidays and Maternity Leave |
| (1) | Annual Leave |
| (a) | Period |
Every employee shall be granted three (3) consecutive weeks leave of absence. Such leave shall commence not earlier than the 10th day of December or later than the 24th day of December. Public holidays falling in the leave period shall be added to the leave period as additional leave.
| (b) | Holiday Pay |
Every employee shall be paid holiday pay an amount equal to one-twelfth of the wages he would earn in three consecutive weeks for each month of employment with the employer in the calendar year, plus one day’s wage for each public holiday falling in the leave period calculated at one-fifth of his weekly wage.
| (c) | Rate for calculating Holiday Pay |
The holiday pay payable shall be calculated on the AB@ wage rate the employee is receiving for the operation he is employed on, or if the employer pays the employee an amount higher than prescribed, the higher amount will apply for the purposes of calculating the holiday pay.
Employment for half a month or more shall be reckoned as a full month, and half a month shall mean any period of 15 consecutive calendar days (irrespective of working days).
| (d) | Payment of Holiday Pay |
The holiday pay payable referred to in Paragraph (b) shall be paid not later than three days prior to the commencement of the leave period.
| (2) | Holiday Pay payable to employees whose services are terminated in November or December |
In the event of an employer terminating the services of an employee during the months of November or December, the employee shall be paid the holiday pay as provided for in (1) (b) including public holidays falling within the leave period.
These provisions shall not apply to an employee who is summarily dismissed for any reason recognised by law as sufficient, or to an employee who has had less than three continuous months of employment with his employer on the date of being given notice of termination of service.
| (3) | Holiday Pay payable to employees who resign due to ill health or pregnancy in December |
An employee who resigns during the month of December on account of ill-health or pregnancy shall be paid the holiday pay as provided for in 1 (b), including the public holidays falling within the leave period.
| (4) | Notification of Leave Period |
The employer shall give employees 30 days notice of the closing and opening dates of the leave period.
| (5) | Extended Leave Period |
In the event of an establishment closing for longer than the period specified in 1 (a) above, any period which exceeds the paid leave period by three days shall be regarded as additional leave, unless the employer has complied with the provisions regarding short-time.
| (6) | Public Holidays |
| (i) | Public holidays and payment of public holidays shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Public Holidays Act 1994. |
| (ii) | In the event of a public holiday falling on a Saturday during the period of annual leave, the holiday shall be a paid holiday. |
| (7) | Holiday Bonus |
Employees who have completed 12 consecutive months employment with an employer when the establishment closes for the annual leave period shall be paid a holiday bonus of not less than one week’s wage.
In the event of an employee having been absent without good cause during such period, the holiday bonus shall be reduced on a pro-rata basis. This shall be done by dividing the total number of days the employee has worked with the same employer during the preceding twelve months by 245, multiplied by the employee=s weekly wage.
| (8) | Long Service Bonus |
Every employee who has completed 5 years of continuous employment or longer with the same employer shall be paid a Long Service Bonus on the following basis:
5 years employment and longer, but less than 10 years ..........................1 day’s wage
10 years employment and longer, but less than 15 years ....................... 2 days’ wages
15 years employment and longer, but less than 20 years ....................... 3 days’ wages
20 years employment and longer, but less than 25 years ....................... 5 days’ wages
25 years employment and longer ..........................................................6 days’ wages
For the purpose of calculating the Long Service Bonus due in terms of this subclause, one day’s wages shall be the equivalent of one-fifth of the weekly wage.
An employee who, upon being engaged, presents a service certificate showing that he was retrenched by an employer in the Industry, shall be entitled to have such previous service recognised for the purpose of calculating the Long Service Bonus.
| (9) | Rate and Payment of Holiday and Long Service Bonus |
With effect from 1 January 2008, the holiday and long service bonus shall be calculated on the rate prescribed in Column B of Annexure C instead of that prescribed n Column A, unless an employee has failed to earn the attendance bonus (see Clause 4(2)) on more than 4 (four) occasions during the calendar year preceding the payment of the holiday and long service bonus, and shall be paid to the employee not later than three (3) days prior to the commencement of the leave period.
| (10) | Maternity Leave |
An employee who has completed six consecutive months employment with her employer shall be entitled to Maternity Leave. The period of maternity leave shall not exceed 6 months.
An employee wishing to return to work shall give her employer one month's notice of her intention to return to work, and shall resume work in her same job and at the same rate of pay.
If the rate of pay increases while she is on leave, she must receive the increased rate.
[Clause 8(10) substituted by section 4 of Notice No. R. 219, GG44288, dated 18 March 2021]
| (10A) | Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Commissioning Leave |
The granting of Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Commissioning Leave shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (Act No 75 of 1997 as amended).
[Clause 8(10A) inserted by section 4(4.1) of Notice No. R. 2701, GG47443, dated 4 November 2022]
| (11) | Family Responsibility Leave |
| (1) | Employees shall be entitled to three days paid Family Responsibility Leave. Employees may be required to submit prior proof of an event as specified in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997, in respect of payment for such leave. |
| (2) | An employer must grant an employee, during each annual leave cycle, at the request of the employee, three days' paid leave and one day unpaid leave, which the employee is entitled to take— |
| (a) | when the employee's child is sick; |
| (b) | when the employee's spouse or life partner 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. |
[Clause 8(11)(2) substituted by section 3 of Notice No. R. 4038, GG49618, dated 10 November 2023]
| (12) | Holiday Bonus upon retrenchment |
An employee being retrenched shall be paid one twelfth of the holiday bonus for each month of employment since the payment of the previous bonus. For the purpose of calculating the pro-rata bonus due, employment for more than half a month shall be reckoned as employment for a full month, and a half a month shall mean any 15 consecutive calendar days irrespective of working days.
| (13) | Periods regarded as employment |
Any period during which an employee is absent:
| (a) | on leave as provided for in Sub-Clause 1 (a); |
| (b) | is absent from work on instruction or request of his employer; |
| (c) | is absent from work owing to illness (supported by a medical certificate); |
| (d) | absent on maternity leave; |
shall be regarded as employment for the purposes of calculating holiday pay.
| (14) | Paid Sick Leave |
| (i) | During every 36 months 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, getting vaccinated against Covid-19 or hospitalisation exceeds a period of ten (10) days. In such event, the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act shall apply. |
| (ii) | Employers shall not be required to pay employees in terms of the provision in sub paragraph (i) of this sub-clause, if, on request by the employer, the employee does not produce a medical certificate or a Covid-19 vaccine card stating that the employee was unable to work for the duration of the employee’s absence on account of sickness, injury or getting vaccinated for Covid 19. |
| (iii) | In respect of absence of 1 day only, however, requests for medical certificates shall only be made if— |
| (a) | there has been a previous occasion where the employer paid the employee for sick leave, and |
| (b) | the employer was not satisfied that the absence was due to the employee’s incapacity as a result of sickness, injury or getting vaccinated for Covid 19, and |
| (c) | the employer advised the employee in writing that payment of sick leave would, in future, be subject to the production of a medical certificate. |
| (iv) | Medical certificates must be issued and signed by a Medical Practitioner, or any person who is certified to diagnose and treat patients, and who is registered with a professional Council established by an Act of Parliament. |
[Clause 8(14) substituted by section 3 of Notice No. R. 1588, GG45617, dated 10 December 2021]