Monthly Archives: Sep 2022

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act sets out that public holiday(s) are concluded in accordance with an agreement. The payment of public holidays determines if the employee would or would not ordinarily work on such day and provides that if an employee does not work on the public holiday he/she shall be entitled to receive at least the wage that the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day.

If an employee does work on the public holiday at least double the amount that the employee would have ordinarily have received on that day. If it is greater (for example: employees who work half a day) the Act provides that the employee shall receive his/her ordinary wage for work that day and for time worked on that day should it exceed the half day the employee would ordinarily have worked.

The Act further provides that if an employee works on a public holiday on which the employee would not ordinarily work (say for example: his or her shift does not ordinarily fall on such public holiday day), the employer must pay the employee the amount equal to; the employees’ ordinary daily wage and the amount earned by the employee for work performed on that day or time worked.

As for shift workers, if a greater portion of the employees shift falls on a public holiday say Thursday from 18h00 to 02h00 the Friday then the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the public holiday, however if the greater portion of the shift was worked on the other day say from Thursday 21h00 to 18h00 the Friday then the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the other day and therefore not seen as a public holiday worked by the employee. The Employer must pay the employee for a public holiday on the employees usual pay day.

This article aims to provide general information and does not constitute legal advice. For more information contact 021 919 6418 OR erin@joblaw.co.za

An Employer must give an employee a daily rest period of at least 12 consecutive hours, before the start of the next shift/working day. For employees who live on the premises at which the work is performed, or the workplace is situated and whose meal intervals lasts at least 3 hours, an agreement in writing (contract, or addendum to contract) may reduce said rest period to no less than 10 consecutive hours.

An Employee should in addition to the above, allow an Employee a weekly rest period of at least 36 consecutive hours and unless otherwise agreed, must include a Sunday. These rest periods can be agreed upon in writing (contract or addendum to contract) to be at least 60 consecutive hours in a two-week period, or one week’s rest period be reduced by up to eight hours in any week, if the rest period of the following week is extended equivalently.

This article aims to provide general information and does not constitute legal advice.

To arrange a consultation, for more information, with a member of our qualified team, contact Erin Steyn on 021 919 6418 or email erin@joblaw.co.za

In some sectors Employer’s operations require them to go above the prescribe 9 hour working days.

These sectors are, but not limited to, Security Industry, Road freight Industry and the Hospitality Industry.

For these Employers Section 11 of the BCEA will come into equation when determining their Employees normal working hours.

Section 11 stipulates that Employer may require their Employees to work up and to a12 hour shift per day, but with this there is a few boxes to tick.

To be able to implement a Compressed Working Week a agreement must be drafted between the Employer and Employee whereby the Employee consents to working 12hours shift.

When Compressed Working Weeks is agreed upon the Employer must still keep in mind the following,
• Ordinary Working Hours may not exceed 45 hours a week.
• Employees may not work more than 10 hours of Overtime a Week.
• And an Employee may not work more than Five days in a week.

When an Employer decides to implement Section 11 it is still strongly advised that they consult with a Labour Practitioner as to ensure they operate within the law.

This article aims to provide general information and does not constitute legal advice. For more information contact 021 919 6418 OR erin@joblaw.co.za

Employees who are pregnant, or who was given birth should be protected and the BCEA makes certain provisions that all Employer’s should abide by.

The first provision is that an Employee who is nursing may not be permitted, or required to perform work that is, or may be hazardous to her health, or the health of her child.

During the period that the Employee is pregnant and for a period of six months after the birth of her child, an Employee must be offered alternative employment on the same terms and conditions that are not less favourable than before she fell pregnant in certain circumstances.

These circumstances may include but are not limited to, if the Employee works night work, as defined in section 17(1); if the carrying out of her duties poses any risk to the health and/or safety of herself and/ or that of her child; or if is practicable for the Employer to do so.

This article aims to provide general information and does not constitute legal advice. For more information contact 021 919 6418 OR erin@joblaw.co.za