06 Oct Know Your Rights: Annual Leave
Know Your Rights:
Annual Leave
What the Law says:
Chapter 3, Section 20-21 of The Basic Conditions of Employment Act No.75 of 1997, as amended in 2020 is part of the new amendment, and states:
How Much Annual Leave Are You Entitled To?
In this Chapter, “annual leave cycle” means the period of 12 months’ employment with the same employer immediately following—
(a) an employee’s commencement of employment; or
(b) the completion of that employee’s prior leave cycle.
(2) An employer must grant an employee at least—
(a) 21 consecutive days’ annual leave on full remuneration in respect of each annual leave cycle; or
(b) by agreement, one day of annual leave on full remuneration for every 17 days on which the employee worked or was entitled to be paid;
(c) by agreement, one hour of annual leave on full remuneration for every 17 hours on which the employee worked or was entitled to be paid.
(3) An employee is entitled to take leave accumulated in an annual leave cycle in terms of subsection (2) on consecutive days.
(4) An employer must grant annual leave not later than six months after the end of the annual leave cycle.
(5) An employer may not require or permit an employee to take annual leave during—
(a) any other period of leave to which the employee is entitled in terms of this Chapter; or
(b) any period of notice of termination of employment.
(6) Despite subsection (5), an employer must permit an employee, at the employee’s written request, to take leave during a period of unpaid leave.
(7) An employer may reduce an employee’s entitlement to annual leave by the number of days of occasional leave on full remuneration granted to the employee at the employee’s request in that leave cycle.
(8) An employer must grant an employee an additional day of paid leave if a public holiday falls on a day during an employee’s annual leave on which the employee would ordinarily have worked.
(9) An employer may not require or permit an employee to work for the employer during any period of annual leave.
(10) Annual leave must be taken—
(a) in accordance with an agreement between the employer and employee; or
(b) if there is no agreement in terms of paragraph (a), at a time determined by the employer in accordance with this section.
(11) An employer may not pay an employee instead of granting paid leave in terms of this section except on termination of employment
Who does this Chapter Apply to?
This Chapter does not apply to an employee who works less than 24 hours in a month for an employer.
Additional Documents from the CCMA
The Department of Labour provides a very comprehensive Contract of Employment Template, which can be downloaded here:-
(You can download a full copy of the Act Basic Conditions of Employment Act No here)
Disclaimer: RESOURCE recruitment is not a Labour Consultancy and is not giving Labour Advice. The above information is freely available on the Department of Labour and CCMA website, and any legal advice should be sought from a legal professional.
