| 5.1.1 | Every employer shall grant to each of his employees' annual leave on full pay of 15 working days in the case of an establishment working a five-day week and 18 working days in the case of an establishment working a six-day week. All employers shall, no later than two (2) weeks prior to their annual closure/holidays, communicate the official date thereof to all employees. Such leave shall commence on a date arranged between the employer and the employee, but shall not be taken later than 14 months from the date the employee last qualified for leave in terms of paragraph 5.1.2 hereof or from the date the employee entered the service of the employer, whichever date shall be the later. Employers shall provide their employees with their wage/salary confirmation which will include their bonus payment at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the official annual closure/holiday. |
| 5.1.2 | Qualification for such leave shall be 52 weeks continuous employment with the same employer, reckoned from the date on which his last annual leave fell due to or from the date he entered the service of the employer, whichever date shall be the later. |
| 5.1.3 | Any period during which an employee— |
| 5.1.3.1 | is on leave in terms of this sub clause; or |
| 5.1.3.2 | is absent from work on the instructions or at the request of the employer, or is absent from work owing to illness not exceeding 30 working days during any 12 months of employment; or |
| 5.1.3.3 | is under notice or is being paid as a result of a fire in terms of clause 9 shall be deemed to be employment for the purposes of clause 5.1.2 and 5.1.4 of this sub clause. |
| 5.1.4 | Upon termination of employment, the employer shall pay to the employee leave pay— |
| 5.1.4.1 | in full in respect of any period of leave which has accrued to him in terms of sub clause 5.1.1 of this clause but was not granted before the date of termination of the employment; and |
| 5.1.4.2 | at the rate of 3/52nds of the weekly wage in respect of each completed week worked, and at the rate of 5 ¾ per cent of the weekly wage received in respect of each incomplete week worked with the employer after the date on which he last became entitled to leave in terms of clause 5.1.1, or, in the case of an employee who has been employed for less than 12 months, after the date of commencement of his employment. |
| 5.1.5 | No employee shall, for remuneration, engage in his normal occupation during his annual leave, and no employer shall permit any employee covered by this Agreement to engage in his normal occupation during his annual leave. |
| 5.1.6 | Leave pay in terms of sub clause 5.1.1 and 5.1.4.1 shall be calculated at the rate of remuneration which the employee was receiving immediately prior to the date upon which the leave became due or his employment terminated, as the case may be, and shall be paid not later than the last working day of his employment, or before the commencement of the said period of leave, as the case may be. |
| 5.1.7 | A night watchman shall be granted annual leave of 22 consecutive calendar days for each completed period of 12 months of consecutive employment. |
| 5.1.8 | A night watchman's annual leave shall be granted at the reasonable convenience of the employer, but within three months of completion of the year of employment to which it relates. |
| 5.1.9 | A night watchman shall be paid, not later than his last working day, a leave allowance of his hourly rate multiplied by 192 hours. |
| 5.1.10 | A night watchman who has not worked for 12 consecutive months with an employer when the annual leave starts or when the employee's services are terminated, shall be paid a proportionate share of the holiday pay for every month worked to the amount of one -fourth of his weekly wage for every month worked. |
| 5.1.11 | Calculation of leave pay |
| 5.1.11.1 | The wage that an employee was receiving before the leave started or before the employee's service was terminated shall be used for calculation of leave pay. The leave pay for employees on shift work shall be calculated on the basis of a 42-hour week. |
| 5.1.11.2 | Employment for 15 consecutive working calendar days will be considered a month for the purpose of calculating leave pay. |
| 5.1.12 | Continuous employment includes any period during which an employee— |
| 5.1.12.1 | is on annual leave; |
| 5.1.12.2 | is absent from work on the instructions or at the request of his employer; |
| 5.1.12.3 | is absent from work due to illness; or |
| 5.1.12.4 | is absent from work due to maternity leave or maternity. |
| 5.1.13 | Where an employee is absent due to illness for more than three consecutive days and cannot give the employer a medical certificate, or where the employee is absent for longer than 30 days due to illness, sub clause 5.1.12.3 will not apply. |
| 5.1.14 | A female employee who is on maternity leave or goes on maternity leave during the annual leave period, is entitled to leave pay calculated up until the date when she went on maternity leave. When such an employee returns from maternity leave, she will be entitled to the difference in the leave pay which accrued during her absence on maternity leave. |
| 5.2. | PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AND WORK ON SUNDAYS |
| 5.2.1 | Public holidays shall be granted in terms of the Public Holidays' Act, No. 1994, 36 of 1994. |
| 5.2.2 | When a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be a holiday. |
| 5.2.3 | Where an employee works on a public holiday, he shall be paid for his time worked as well as the pay he would have received if he had not worked. |
| 5.2.4 | Where an employee's service is terminated in the week in which Good Friday falls, he shall be entitled to payment for Good Friday and Family Day, unless his service was terminated for disciplinary reasons. |
| 5.2.5 | Where a public holiday falls on a Saturday and it is a normal working day, employees shall be paid in terms of Section 5(1)(b) of the Public Holidays' Act, 1994. |
| 5.2.6 | Public holidays shall be paid holidays, whether or not such holiday falls on a working day. Pay for Public holidays shall be the amount paid for the longest day ordinarily worked by the establishment— |
| 5.2.6.1 | Provided that an employee who is required by his employer to work on the working days immediately preceding and immediately following any of the said public holidays and who absents himself from work on either such working days shall not be paid for such holiday unless absent with the permission of his employer or unless a medical certificate in respect of the period of absence is submitted to the employer. |
| 5.2.6.2 | Should any of the holidays mentioned in the preceding paragraph fall within the period of annual leave, the employer shall have the option whether or not to extend such leave on full pay by one or more of such holidays; Provided that, if the employer does not extend the leave, the employee's holiday pay shall be calculated as if such leave had been extended and the employee shall, in addition, be paid in the usual way for all time worked before and after going on leave. |
| 5.3.1 | An employee is entitled to at least four consecutive months' maternity leave. |
| 5.3.2 | An employee may commence maternity leave: |
| 5.3.2.1 | at any time from four weeks before the expected date of birth, unless otherwise agreed; or |
| 5.3.2.2 | on a date from which a medical practitioner or a midwife certifies that it is necessary for the employee's health or that of her unborn child. |
| 5.3.3 | No employee may work for six weeks after the birth of her child, unless a medical practitioner or midwife certifies that she is fit to do so. |
| 5.3.4 | Employers shall pay to an employee, on the last working day prior to their commencement of maternity leave, the additional sum equivalent to two (2) week's basic salary. |
| 5.4.1 | In an establishment employing between ten (10) and fifty (50) employees, one shop steward shall be elected and shall be entitled to a maximum of ten (10) days leave per annum per establishment for training purposes. In those establishments employing up to or more than fifty (50) employees one (1) additional shop steward shall be elected, and they shall be entitled to pooled shop stewards and paid leave of ten (10) days for each shop steward. |
[Clause 5(5.4)(5.4.1) substituted by section 3 of Notice No. R. 29, GG44090, dated 22 January 2021]
| 5.4.2 | Shop stewards at the same workplace may pool their leave entitlement in terms of this clause for use by one or more shop stewards in the same workplace. |
| 5.4.3 | Where a shop steward vacates his office for any reason, the shop steward elected in his place will only be entitled to the balance of leave. |
| 5.4.4 | Shop stewards requiring reasonable access to either telephone, telefax and/or e-mail facilities, in order to properly perform their duties, shall submit a request to the employer who undertakes not to unreasonably withhold such access. |
| 5.5. | FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY LEAVE |
| 5.5.1 | This clause applies to an employee: |
| 5.5.1.1 | who has been in employment with an employer for longer than four months; and |
| 5.5.1.2 | who works for at least four days a week for that employer. |
| 5.5.2 | An employer must grant an employee, during each annual leave cycle, at the request of the employee, three days' paid leave, which the employee is entitled to take: |
| 5.5.2.1 | when the employee's child is born; |
| 5.5.2.2 | when the employee's child is sick; or |
| 5.5.2.3 | in the event of the death of: |
| 5.5.2.3.1 | the employee's spouse or life partner; or |
| 5.5.2.3.2 | the employee's parent, adoptive parent, grandparent, child, adopted child, grandchild or sibling. |
| 5.5.3 | Subject to sub-clause 5.5.5, an employer must pay an employee for a day's family responsibility leave: |
| 5.5.3.1 | the wage the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day; and |
| 5.5.3.2 | on the employee's usual pay day. |
| 5.5.4 | An employee may take family responsibility leave in respect of the whole or a part of the day. |
| 5.5.5 | Before paying an employee for leave in terms of this section, an employer may require reasonable proof of an event contemplated in sub -clauses 5.5.2.1 to 5.5.2.3.2 for which the leave was required. |
| 5.5.6 | An employee's unused entitlement to leave in terms of this section lapses at the end of the annual leave cycle in which it accrues. |
| 5.5.7 | However, these provisions do not prevent an employee requesting an additional two days' family responsibility leave, which leave shall be unpaid leave. Such application shall be motivated by the employee concerned, and submitted with reasonable proof of an event contemplated in terms of clause 5.5.2 above. While the granting of additional family responsibility leave is at the discretion of the employer, motivated applications shall not be unreasonably refused. |
| 5.6.1 | In this chapter "sick leave cycle" means the period of 36 months' employment with the same employer immediately following: |
| 5.6.1.1 | an employee's commencement of employment; or |
| 5.6.1.2 | the completion of that employee's prior sick leave cycle. |
| 5.6.2 | During every sick leave cycle, an employee is entitled to an amount of paid sick leave equal to the number of days the employee would normally work during a period of six weeks. |
| 5.6.3 | Despite sub-clause 5.6.2, during the first six months of employment, an employee is entitled to one day's paid sick leave for every 26 days worked. |
| 5.6.4 | During an employee's first sick leave cycle, an employer may reduce the employee's entitlement to sick leave in terms of sub-clause 5.6.2 by the number of days' sick leave taken in terms of sub-clause 5.6.3. |
| 5.6.5 | Subject to sub-clause 5.7, an employer must pay an employee for a day's sick leave: |
| 5.6.5.1 | the pay the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day; and |
| 5.6.5.2 | on the employee's usual pay day. |
| 5.6.6 | An agreement may reduce the pay to which an employee is entitled in respect of any day's absence in terms of this section if: |
| 5.6.6.1 | the number of days of paid leave is increased at least commensurately with any reduction in the daily amount of sick pay; and |
| 5.6.6.2 | the employee's entitlement to pay: |
| 5.6.6.2.1 | for any day's sick leave is at least 75% of the wage payable to the employee for the ordinary hours the employee would have worked on that day; and |
| 5.6.6.2.2 | for sick leave over the sick leave cycle is at least equivalent to the employee's entitlement in terms of sub-clause 5.6.2. |
| 5.7.1 | An employer is not required to pay an employee in terms of clause 5.6 if the employee has been absent from work for more than two consecutive days or on more than two occasions during an eight week period and, on request by the employer, does not produce a medical certificate stating that the employee was unable to work for the duration f the employee's absence on account of sickness or injury. |
| 5.7.2 | The medical certificate must be issued and signed by a registered medical practitioner or any other person who is certified to diagnose and treat patients and who is registered with a professional council established by an Act of Parliament. |
| 5.7.3 | If It is not reasonably practicable for an employee who lives on the employer's premises to obtain a medical certificate, the employer may not withhold payment in terms of sub-clause 5.7.1 unless the employer provides reasonable assistance to the employee to obtain the certificate. |
| 5.8. | EMPLOYEE'S STUDY LEAVE |
Three (3) days study leave per annum shall be granted by Employers to those employees who submit proof of the registrations with a recognised institution for their future education.
