POL019 | 1 June 2023
Purpose of the policy
The policy aims to define the leave rules of the company and ensure its uniform application.
Scope of the policy
All permanent employees are employed within the company and are licensed by the company administered as well as employed. This policy does not apply to persons who have been employed by the employer for 3 (three) months or less.
Document Responsibility
The maintenance and updating of the Leave Policy are the responsibility of the Human Resources Department.
References
The applicable Sectoral Determination for the Agricultural Sector as well as the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (Act 75 of 1997 as amended 2007) (BCEA) (BCEA)
ANNUAL LEAVE
An annual leave cycle is a period of 12 months with the same employer, calculated from the employee's commencement of employment, or from the completion of that employees previous leave cycle.
Upon completion of a leave cycle, that is, 12 calendar months of uninterrupted service, an employee is entitled to 3 weeks (21 consecutive days) of annual leave with full pay. (Consecutive days indicate that it includes weekends and therefore amounts to 3 weeks (21 calendar days) leave and not 21 consecutive working days leave). 21 consecutive days leave is equal to 15 working days leave per year for a five-day working week or 18 working days for a six-day working week. If leave is interrupted by occasional leave, for what valid reason is leave calculated at 1 day paid leave for every 17 days worked. (i.e. 52 weeks per year x 5 days per week = 260 working days per year divided by 17 = 15 working days per year or 18 days per year for 6 day working week).
Holiday leave must be taken 6 months after the expiry of the leave cycle. In exceptional cases, the 6-month period may be extended by another 6 months after approval by HR. If the leave is not taken, then the leave lapses. If the office has received a leave form of planned leave within the second 6 month cycle, then the leave will not expire, with the express condition that the leave must be taken, otherwise the leave automatically expires after the second 6 month period.
Leave will be granted by agreement at a suitable time and considering the employer's operational requirements, as well as the needs of the employee. A leave form/Application must be completed 6 weeks in advance (for leave of one week or longer; or at least 5 days for leave of less than one week) before the time of the planned leave and approved by the responsible Manager Supervisor. (See procedure ANNEXURE 1). The application for leave may reasonably be rejected by the employer provided that an alternative leave period is agreed.
An employee may apply for occasional leave on an urgent basis if the employee has already accumulated leave credit during the annual leave cycle. The employee's annual leave accrual of 21 consecutive days / 15 working days leave is reduced by the number of days of occasional leave granted to the employee during the cycle. (Opportunity leave is normal leave taken as single days).
This urgent opportunity to leave can only be considered if there is good reason. The leave form must be completed in advance and sent to the Human Resources office for the necessary approval.
Annual leave may never be longer than 21 consecutive calendar days.
Normal leave may not be taken during a period of notice, any period of sick leave, maternity leave or family responsibility leave.
It is the policy of the company that leave may not be redeemed.
Upon termination of service, a maximum of 21 calendar days / 15 working days leave will be paid at the rate at which the leave accrued.
Leave already approved may be withdrawn and / or postponed by the Senior Management or its delegate in consultation with the Functional Manager. Written proof of this agreement must be placed on record at the staff office. (See procedure ANNEXURE 1). Costs already incurred may be reimbursed by the employer at the discretion of Management after delivery of proof by the employee.
In the case of students or contract workers who have not completed a 12-month cycle, a one-day leave formula for every seventeen completed days worked (1:17) is used as a basis for calculating leave.
Calculation of accrual of annual leave – 1 hour for every 17 hours worked .
An alternative method of calculating annual leave has been provided for in the Act, and it would seem that the intention of the legislator, in providing this alternative method of calculation, was to provide for an easy means of calculating the annual leave for temporary employees, or fixed term employees.
This method makes provision that the annual leave may be calculated on the basis of one hour of annual leave on full remuneration for every 17 hours on which the employee worked, or was entitled to be paid, or it can be calculated on the basis of one day annual leave on full remuneration for every 17 days on which the employee worked or was entitled to be paid.
This method of accrual may only be applied by agreement with the employee. If there is no such agreement, then the employer is obliged to apply the accrual at the rate of 1,25 days or 1,5 days monthly, as the case may be.
Public holidays fall during a period of annual leave.
Should a public holiday fall during a period whilst an employee is on annual leave, and the public holiday falls on the day on which the employee would ordinarily work, then the employee is entitled to an extra day of annual leave for each such public holiday.
Half day leave:
Half-day leave will be granted if an employee has sufficient leave credit at his / her disposal.
Half-day leave can be taken in the morning or in the afternoon respectively.
Half-day leave implies that half of the hours normally worked per day can be taken as leave. In the case where an employee works 7. 5 hours per day, the ½ day leave is equal to 3 hours 15 minutes. In the case where an Employee works 9 hours a day, the ½ day leave is 4 hours 30 minutes.
Meal time is excluded from any ½ day leave
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
A day as contemplated in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act is paid off days. Public holidays as intended in terms of the Act are not working days and are not counted as leave.
If the remuneration applies to an employee, in terms of the employer's operational requirements, such an employee can be expected to work on the public holiday after consultation and agreement with the employee. The period that includes part of - or the full day that the employee worked will be paid at double time; alternatively, the day worked may be exchangeable for another day on which the employee would normally work on a one-off basis. hours worked for two hours off. Such arrangements must be approved in advance by the relevant Senior Management and Human Resources Department.
All employees whose remuneration falls above the remuneration threshold are legally excluded from any public holiday.
If a public holiday coincides with an employee's annual leave period, the number of days off must be extended by the number of public holidays.
FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY LEAVE
An employee who has been employed for more than four months is entitled to a total of three (3) days paid family responsibility leave during a leave cycle. It may be taken when:
the employee's child is born.
the employee's child is ill (This refers to own and adopted children and not grandchildren);
or in the case of the death of: -
o An employee's spouse or partner;
o An employee's parent, adopted parent, grandparent, child, adopted child, grandchild, brother or sister.
In the case where the spouse or partner of the employee has to undergo an operation.
Reasonable proof must be provided by the employee for the case for which the leave was taken. If no evidence is provided, the absence will be considered unpaid leave.
Case
Birth of a child
When the child is ill
Death of immediate family member (refer to the explanation above)
Operation of spouse or partner
Proof
Certified copy of the birth certificate of the child
Medical certificate issued by Medical Practitioner
Certified copy of the death certificate of the family member
Medical certificate issued by Medical Practitioner
When evidence must be submitted
Immediately upon return to work
Immediately upon return to work
Seven days after returning from the funeral
Immediately upon return to work
Family responsibility leave expires at the end of the annual leave cycle within which it accrues and has no payout or monetary value.
SICK LEAVE
Sick leave means the period (s) of absence from the workplace in cases where an employee is unable to work due to illness or injury.
Sick leave cycle means the period of 36 months of uninterrupted service with the same employer that immediately follows the commencement of an employee's service, or the completion of the employee's previous sick leave cycle.
An employee was employed during the first 6 months, entitled to one day sick leave with payment for every 26 days.
An employee who works 6 days a week is entitled to 36 calendar days sick leave with full pay during a sick leave cycle. (36 months / 3 years).
An employee who works 5 days a week is entitled to 30 calendar days sick leave with full pay during a sick leave cycle.
Absence from work due to illness or injury for more than two consecutive days will only be regarded as sick leave and remunerated if the employee submits a medical certificate. The certificate must be issued and signed by a registered medical practitioner or another person who is qualified to diagnose and treat patients and who is registered with a statutory professional council.
If the employer suspects that sick leave is being abused, a sickness certificate for a single day's absence from the employee may be required.
Absence from work due to illness on 2 or more occasions during a period of 8 weeks will only be regarded as sick leave and remunerated if the employee has a medical certificate issued and signed by a medical practitioner as mentioned above.
Disability due to ill health or injury will be dealt with in terms of Schedule 8 item 10 & 11 of the Labor Relations Act, read in conjunction with section 23 of the W.B.D.V.
In the event that the employee's sick leave is exhausted, the employer will, with special motivation by the employee in consultation with the Functional Chief, consider the motivation to grant additional sick leave at 50% of the employee's compensation up to a maximum of 15 calendar days sick leave. Any sick leave thereafter will be treated as unpaid leave or in accordance with paragraph 8.8
Injury on duty will be dealt with in terms of COIDA (Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases act). A maximum of three months' leave will be granted. The employer has no obligation to compensate the employee during this period, and it is the employee's responsibility to claim the compensation of the Accident Commissioner in accordance with legislation. The employer has a legal obligation to report the injury to duty according to the correct procedure and to provide the appropriate forms to the Accident Commissioner.
MATERNITY LEAVE
An employee is entitled to 4 consecutive months of unpaid maternity leave.
Maternity leave of an employee can commence:
• At any time from 4 weeks before the expected date of birth or.
• On a day that a medical practitioner or midwife certifies that it is essential to the health of the
employee or her unborn child.
An employee may work before 8 weeks after the birth of her child unless a medical
practitioner certifies that she is fit to do so.
An employee who intends to take maternity leave must notify the employer of her intention at least 6 weeks before the commencement of the maternity leave.
Maternity leave is unpaid leave and maternity benefits are handled by the employee himself in terms of the Unemployment Insurance Act
An employee who has a miscarriage during the third trimester of pregnancy or a stillborn child is entitled to 6 weeks maternity leave after the miscarriage or stillbirth regardless of whether the employee was on maternity leave at the time or not.
PARENT LEAVE
The introduction of parental leave effectively replaces the three days paid paternity leave previously provided for in the BCEA. (The family responsibility benefits associated with the illness of a child or the death of a close family member remain unchanged.)
Parental leave can start on the day the child is born.
The ten consecutive days of parental leave are calendar days, not working days. For example, if the child is born on a Tuesday, the father may take leave from that Tuesday until the following Thursday.
UNPAID LEAVE
Unpaid leave will only be granted in exceptional circumstances at the sole discretion and approval of the Chief Executive Officer or his proxy.
Any period (full days or portions of days) of absence from the workplace, without prior approved leave or permission, or periods of absence from the workplace where evidence is required and the evidence has not been provided such as e.g. medical or birth certificates, such leave will be counted as unpaid leave.
No off afternoons are allowed. If an afternoon is taken, a leave form must be completed.
No off weekends will be granted to persons in the production departments without leave being registered. Off days arising from public holidays may indicate for this purpose
Disclaimer:
This information is proprietary to Wisani Burial Society, is strictly confidential and may only be used for the purpose for which it has been provided.
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