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The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) provides a basic guideline on BCEA regulations relating to:
- Working times: including shift work, weekend work, public holidays, overtime
- Payment: including payment in kind, deductions
- Leave: annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, family responsibility leave, unpaid leave and absence without leave
- Deductions: including those required by law and those you are allowed to make
- Notice periods
- Administration: documents needed by employees and record-keeping
- Prohibition of victimisation and exploitation
This article will focus on Leave
There are different types of leave, these can be annual (yearly) leave, sick leave, maternity leave, family responsibility or unpaid leave.
Annual leave
- Every worker is entitled to 21 consecutive days paid leave per year. This is the equivalent of three weeks time off
- The worker is entitled to take 21 days all in one go, but can choose to use the annual leave to take occasional days off work. The employer then deducts these days of occasional leave that a worker took during the year from the annual leave
- Annual leave must be taken within 6 months of the end of an annual leave cycle (a year’s work)
- If the worker is off work on any other kind of leave, these days do not count as part of annual leave. In other words, annual leave cannot be deducted at the same time as sick leave, family responsibility leave or maternity leave
- If the leave period covers a public holiday, then the public holiday does not count as part of the worker’s leave
- Annual leave cannot be taken at the same time as the notice period
- Leave pay is not a bonus on top of normal pay. It simply means that a worker gets a holiday every year, and gets normal pay for those days. If a worker doesn’t take leave, or all the leave, the employer will not pay out leave pay instead of leave
- If a worker leaves a job without having taken all the leave that is due to them, the worker must be paid for the days of leave that they have not taken. This is called pro rata leave pay
Sick leave
- A permanent worker is entitled to paid sick leave of 30 days over any 3-year cycle (36 days if the worker works a 6-day week). During the first 6 months that a worker works for an employer, she or he gets 1 day paid sick leave for every 26 days worked. Once all these paid sick leave days are used up, the employer does not have to pay the worker when he or she is off sick. An employee who works more than 24 hours during any month earns one day’s leave for every 26 days worked
- Seasonal or temporary workers are entitled to 1 day’s sick leave for every 26 days worked over the first 6-month cycle
- Workers who are sick for more than 2 days may be required to produce a doctor’s certificate. If a worker lives on the premises and it is difficult for them to get to a doctor (for example, in rural areas), the worker does not have to produce a certificate unless the employer gives the worker reasonable assistance to get the certificate
- Sick leave pay is not a bonus on top of normal pay. It simply means that if a worker is genuinely sick and has to take time off work, the employer must pay the worker up to a certain number of days. For example, if a waitress in a restaurant only took 3 days sick leave this year, the employer does not owe her the money for the remaining sick leave days at the end of the year.
Family responsibility leave
- This is a relatively new type leave.
- Every worker with more than 4 months service with an employer, and who works on more than 4 days a week, is entitled to 3 days paid family responsibility leave per year. This can be taken if a direct family member dies, or when a child is born or ill. A total of three days is allocated for this kind of leave and not three days for each event.
Maternity leave
Women workers are entitled to 4 months unpaid maternity leave. During this time, the worker may draw maternity benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
“A Code of Good Practice on the Protection of Employees During Pregnancy and After the Birth of a Child has been published.”
Unpaid leave
An employer may agree to let a worker take extra days of annual leave, or the worker may be sick for longer than the paid sick leave. Then the employer does not have to pay the worker for these days.
Absent without leave
If a worker takes leave without the employer’s permission and is not sick, the employer does not have to pay the worker for the time taken off. If the worker takes off many days in a row without permission (normally more than 4 consecutive days), or often takes time off without permission, the employer may presume that the worker has deserted (left without giving notice) his or her employment.
The employer may employ someone else to do the job. In this case the employer does not give the worker notice. But if the worker returns, fair dismissal rules must be followed.
Here are more articles to do with the Basic Conditions of Employment:
For more about this topic, visit the Labour department of South Africa Website
This article was updated in September 2021