Types of Leaves at Work in South Africa

The Labor legislation in South Africa outlines all the types of leaves an employee is entitled to in Section 19 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. However, all these leaves are applicable to employees who work at least 24 hours per month. If you are one of them, let’s see how many days you can take in a year.

Bereavement Leave

Technically, bereavement is defined as the experience of losing someone close to you. According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act BCEA 1997, the employees are entitled to the family responsibility leave of three days, applicable in case of emergencies.

Under this category, the employees are given bereavement leave of three days and five days in case they are domestic workers. This leave is given on the unfortunate event of the death of their parents, grandparents, husband, wife, life partners, siblings, and grandchildren. During this time, the employees are paid their ordinary wages on regular days.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the bereavement leave, the employees must meet the following conditions.

• • They must be working for longer than four months.

• • They must be working for at least four days a week under the same employer.

• • They must be working for more than 24 hours a month.

• • They must be covered by the BCEA..

Proof of Leave

Moreover, you must provide the following documents within seven days of coming back to work to become eligible for the bereavement leave.

• • A death certificate, authorized by the state.

• • Proof that the deceased person is your immediate family member.

• • Please note that bereavement leave does not cover the death of a parent-in-law.

Special Leave

Recently, the Department of Public Service and Administration issued a new statement declaring special leaves for public servants. According to the notice, the special applies to a wide range of categories, including

Examinations, tests, postgraduate research qualifications, attending classes during work hours, training or practical work, amateur sports participation, cultural event participation, natural disasters, sexual harassment, community or third-party protests, resettlement, and religious holidays.

All public departments are responsible for managing and verifying the reason for the leave and required documents. They are required to keep a record of leave audits independently.

Sick Leave South Africa

The BCEA states that the employee is entitled to two days of sick leave or more on providing a medical certificate during an annual sick leave cycle of 36 months.

Eligibility Requirements

To become eligible for sick leave, you must qualify for the following conditions.

• • You must be working for a 36-month period with the same employer.

• • For the first six weeks of your employment after one sick leave cycle completion, you will get one day for every 26 days.

• • The employer has the right to reduce the days of leave during the first sick leave cycle of the employee.

Medical Certificates for Sick Leave

A medical certificate is a document that is issued and signed by certified professionals like dentists, physicians, interns, nurses, and psychologists. These professionals should be registered with a legitimate council. The employee may not provide the medical certificate for the first two days and is subjected to must provide it for the third leave.

Calculation of Sick Leave Days

Well, the number of sick leave depends on the number of days you normally work in a 6-week period. For instance, if an employee works for 5 days per week, he/ she can get 30 days every 36 months. Similarly, if another employee works for 6 days per week, he/ she can get 36 days every 36 months, and so on.

Leave Of Absence

The BCEA Section 20 discusses the annual leaves an employee is entitled to during one leave cycle. The section states that these leaves apply to employees who work more than 24 hours per month under the same employer. The annual leaves are intended to allow employers to have a break away from work for three consecutive weeks.

Overall, the employees are entitled to 21 consecutive days of annual leave on full remuneration with respect to the annual leave cycle. The payment for the annual leave is straightforward, as the employer is subjected to compensate the employees for the regular paydays according to their ordinary wages.

Expiration of Leave of Absence

According to Section 20 (4) of the BCEA Act, if the employee has not taken leave for one annual cycle which is twelve months and one week following this, the unused leaves will expire. After this period, the employer has every right to refuse the payment or annual leave.

Also, many employees wonder about the situation if the employee becomes ill during the annual leave period. In this case, it is largely up to the employer. Usually, the employer will take this as a separate sick leave, though he may not do so given the company’s policy.

Can the Leave of Absence Be Cashed?

Section 20 (11) of the BCEA states that if an employee’s contract is terminated for whatever reason, the employer will have to pay for the unused annual leave. However, it is the only instance where an employer can leave encashment. And the payment will be similar to that of annual leave compensation.

Sabbatical Leave

So, what is a sabbatical leave? In simple words, it can be defined as an employee taking an extended break from work, though it is different from other types of leaves like maternity, annual, or sick. However, it is not mentioned in the BCEA 1997 and largely depends on the employer’s decision and the company’s policy.

There are several reasons why an employee would take a sabbatical leave, including to further their studies, travel, and self-care. Typically, if your company allows it, they usually give employees a leave for up to a year.

Study Leave Policy In South Africa

The Labor legislation does not have a clear-cut policy on study leave and neither it is mentioned anywhere under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act BCEA. Hence, the prospects of the study leave often depend on the company policies and the agreement of employment.

For example, Section X of the Policy Document stipulated under the Department of Basic Education discusses granting leave for examinations, study, and practical work. According to this section, employees and educators are entitled to two days of special leave with full pay per examination. However, the condition is that they should be in the field of study that is in the interest of the Department and their present line of work.

• • Hence, the eligibility, application process, duration, and whether it will be paid or not will be determined by your employer.

Compassionate Leave South Africa

Typically, compassionate leave is short-term leave for employees when their close family members are ill or passed away. Under the BCEA 1997, the term used for such leave is Family Responsibility leave. This is why all payments, reports, and system-generated payslips use this term and encapsulate all conditions stipulated by the compassion leave.

Eligibility Requirements

To receive the compassion/ family responsibility leave in South Africa, you must fulfill the following requirements.

• • You must have been employed for longer than four months.

• • You must have worked at least four days a week under the same employer.

• • You must have worked for at least 24 hours in a month.

• • You must be covered by the BCEA.

Proof of Leave

To receive the compassionate leave, you must provide several documents relevant to the reason for the leave. Here is a quick summary of it.

Leave Reason	Documents	When to Submit It
Death of a closed one	Death certificate, registered by the state Proof that the person was your immediate family member	Within 7 days of returning to work
Birth of a child	Birth certificate Proof of paternity or court decree for an adoptive child	On coming back to the office
Child illness (less than 18 years of age)	Proof of parenthood (like birth certificate) The medical certificate with your child’s name on it.	On coming back to the office

What is Compassion Leave Worth?

The BCEA 1997 suggests that employees are entitled to three days of compassionate leave in case of emergency. The number of leave days for domestic workers is five days. The employees can take the entire day off or a part of the day and throughout these days, the employees will be paid ordinary wages during their regular paydays.

Adoption Leave South Africa

Under the category of family responsibility leave, employees are given the right to adoption leave. In regards to the Labor Law Amendment Act South Africa, the employee is entitled to 10 days of parental leave when their child is born. Alternatively, this leave also applies in conditions where the employee legally adopts a child or a child is placed in the care of the prospective adoptive parent by the court.

Eligibility Requirements

In the above-mentioned scenario, you must understand what is an adoptive and prospective adoptive parent. According to the Children Act 2005,

• • A prospective adoptive parent is someone who is fit to be entrusted with parental responsibilities, willing to undertake the responsibilities, is older than 18 years, and has been assessed by a social worker.

• • An adoptive parent is someone who has adopted a child by law.

Based on these definitions, both male and female employees qualify for parental leave under such circumstances.

Moreover, to get the adoption leave, the child must be younger than two years. If the adoption order is made with two adoptive parents, only one may apply for the leave. For this, this one employee is required to submit the court decree.

What is the Adoptive Leave Worth?

The total number of days covered in the leave is 4 months and you won’t be getting paid during this period. Though the adoption leave is unpaid, employees can submit claims to UIF or the Unemployment Insurance Fund. As per this, the employee is entitled to 66% of his/ her regular earnings, considering the maximum income threshold by UIF.

Statutory Leave Meaning

Generally, statutory leave can be defined as the legally mandated leave that companies offer under labor laws. These leaves give paid time off to employees for their essential needs while making sure their job security is not affected. Given this meaning, all sorts of leaves, including annual, sick, maternity, and family responsibilities come under statutory leave.

Religious Leave

Last but not least, religious leave is based on the special needs of employees and is dependent on whether the employer has outlined it in the employment contract. Also, as suitable for the employer and the religious occasion, the number of leave days is decided. Moreover, the religious leave is not accumulated and included in the employee’s credit.

• • Some employers may allow you to include your religious festivities in the annual leave and do not have a set of religious leave.

FAQs

Can you take a sick leave in your notice period?

Yes, if the employee already has unused sick leave, they may use it during the notice period, as permitted by the labor laws of South Africa.

Is my salary deducted from unpaid leaves?

Yes, according to labor laws, the employer is entitled to deduct a small portion of the employee’s monthly wage if they take unpaid leave.

How does unpaid leave work in South Africa?

Well, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act does not discuss unpaid leave. It only mentions it in instances when the employee has exhausted or paid sick or annual leave.

In conclusion, as an employee who works at least 24 hours a day, you are entitled to various leaves. I hope this guide was helpful in figuring out how many days you can take off in a year.