Chapter 21 – Sick Leave By law, employers are required to recognise valid medical certificates that have been signed by properly registered practitioners. The calculation of sick leave occurs over a three-year cycle – but this doesn’t mean employees receive 10 days off every year. Instead, within each three-year cycle, the law allows each employee to […]
Chapter 25 – Working Hours and Forced Changes to Terms and Conditions of Employment Requiring employees to work during their breaks is illegal, unless there are unavoidable exceptional circumstances where completing essential tasks is crucial and there is no one else available to do the work. It is unhealthy and counterproductive to require your employees […]
Chapter 23 – Maternity and Parental Leave According to the law, employees going on maternity leave are, in fact, not entitled to paid maternity leave. That is, while the employer may legally elect to pay an employee on maternity leave, this is not a statutory requirement. However, an employer who does elect to grant one […]
Chapter 22 – Family Responsibility Leave The law entitles every employee who works four or more days per week – and who has completed four or more months of service with the employer – to three days of paid family responsibility leave per year. It is important to stress that an employee’s family responsibility entitlement […]
Chapter 20 – Annual Leave When it comes to annual leave, every employee is entitled to three weeks’ vacation leave annually for purposes of having a rest from working. As such, an employer is not permitted to refuse vacation leave to an employee, allow the employee to waive his or her right to take statutory […]
Chapter 19 – Remuneration and Deductions The amended Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) – which became effective on 1 September 2014 – requires employers to pay employees their salaries or wages timeously. The amended section 55 (4)(b) of the BCEA allows the Minister of Labour to decide the minimum wages and minimum pay raises […]
Chapter 18 – Working Conditions Generally, and with few exceptions, employers may not require or allow employees to work more than 45 normal hours per week. With very few exceptions, any time worked more than these hours must be paid on an overtime basis. However, even if overtime rates are paid, employees may not work more […]
Chapter 17 – Health and Safety The employer should not be looking after the health and safety of its employees simply because of statutory requirements. By law, all employers are required to ensure they institute health and safety policies and procedures for the workplace. An employer must ensure that the policies sufficiently protect their employees […]
Chapter 24 – Payment for Sunday and Public Holiday When it comes to public holidays, employers are required to pay all employees a day’s pay for these public holidays, even if these employees are not working on the day. It’s also important to remember that, if an employee who is earning below the BCEA threshold works […]
