Labor law advice needed

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wheunis

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I am coming up empty handed on a few things regarding labor law, as it pertains to working hours.
If someone could help me sort this out, i would much appreciate.

Firstly, is there any sort of by-law, sub-clause or something else, that states the maximum allowed consecutive days an employee works?
I know an employee must be granted 12 hours daily rest, and 36 consecutive hours per week rest. That's where things get really tough for me though. Where I work, we must work every second weekend. For that weekend worked, we get 1 (ONE) day off somewhere in the week. However, lately our managers have taken a very harsh approach to this.
Example: I am off for the weekend and work Monday. Tuesday I am allotted an off day for the coming weekend i will be working. I work Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri...then the weekend off, to resume work again on Monday... a 10 consecutive day work stretch.
That 10 day consecutive stretch is becoming a very common practice in the company now. Sadly, its also impacting very heavily on my wellbeing.

So... is there anything I can do here? Is there any legal point for me to lean on?

I Much appreciate any legal input on this matter.
 
You are only allowed to work 6 straight days with a max hour cap of 45 hours.

6 days straight nothing more ;)
 
I'm interested to know what type of work and industry you are in. Can you post that?
 
Pitbull said:
You are only allowed to work 6 straight days with a max hour cap of 45 hours. 6 days straight nothing more ;)
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I also thunk that until I owned a small business and looked for loop holes. The above was a guideline that could be changed by mutual consent from both parties. The mutual consent part is usually hidden in the fine print of your letter of appointment.
 
Pitbull said:
You are only allowed to work 6 straight days with a max hour cap of 45 hours.

6 days straight nothing more ;)
Click to expand...

Would you be so kind to point me in the direction of such a document, or whatever?
I would really appreciate that, seeing as i dont see anything in my letter of appointment or contract that looks to contradict this.
If i could have any sort of formal write-up of that rule, or guideline, or whatever it is, i would finally have some rest.
 
wheunis said:
Would you be so kind to point me in the direction of such a document, or whatever?
I would really appreciate that, seeing as i dont see anything in my letter of appointment or contract that looks to contradict this.
If i could have any sort of formal write-up of that rule, or guideline, or whatever it is, i would finally have some rest.
Click to expand...

I will have to get it from our Workforce manager. I asked him as he walked past :o

But that is def. true if he says so. Will try and find the documents from him ;)
 
Here you go, some info. The last one is probably most relevant to you :

Working times and pay

* The maximum hours of work is 45 hours per week for ordinary pay.


* The maximum length of a working day is 9 hours if the worker works a 5-day week, but 8 hours a day if the worker works a 6-day week. Where the working week is compressed (squashed) into fewer days, then shifts of longer hours may be introduced with the employee’s consent. For example, an employee can agree to work shifts of 12 hours over 4 working days.
* Overtime is voluntary. No worker may work more than 10 hours of overtime per week. Overtime must be paid per hour of overtime worked, at a rate of one and a half times the worker’s ordinary hourly wage. In addition, no employee may work more than 12 hours in any day (including overtime on that day).

Even though overtime is voluntary, if the employee agreed in the original contract to work over time when necessary, then this overtime must be worked. If the employee refuses to work overtime then he/she is in breach of the contract and the employer can take disciplinary action against the employee.

An employer who is employing less than 10 employees only needs to pay overtime at time and a third of the normal wage. The employer can also agree with the employee to work up to 15 hours overtime during a week as against the normal ten hours.

Note: While individual overtime is voluntary (subject to an agreement) a joint refusal by a number of employees to work normal overtime, will probably constitute a strike or industrial action.

* Payment for Sunday work must be the greater of:

* Double the normal hourly rate for the amount of Sunday hours worked,

Or

* one full day’s pay.

If it is normally part of a worker’s job to work on a Sunday, then s/he must be paid at a rate of time and a half his/her normal hourly rate.

* Workers are entitled to be paid for public holidays which fall on a day that they normally would have worked - even though they will be off and not working on the public holiday. A worker can agree to work on a public holiday, but this is voluntary. If a worker does agree to work on a public holiday, they must get a normal working day off in exchange or they must be paid double the normal hourly rate for the amount of hours worked on the public holiday.
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Flexibility in working hours

The BCEA allows for some flexibility in the arrangement of working hours, by agreement between the employer and workers (collective agreement) or one worker (individual agreement):

* Compressed working week by collective or individual agreement:
Employees can work up to 12 hours of normal work on any day without receiving overtime pay. But the employees may still not work more than 45 normal hours per week and may not work on more than 5 days in a week. Any time worked beyond 45 hours in the week should be paid at overtime rates.
* Averaging of working hours by collective agreement only:
Averaging means workers can agree to work longer hours than the BCEA usually allows, if they get the same number of extra hours off at a later time. This would for example mean that workers could agree to work longer hours in one week for normal pay, if they work reduced hours for normal pay the following week. But the workers may still not work more than an average of 45 ordinary hours per week during this period. Also the agreement cannot go on for longer than 4 months. Where reference is made to a collective agreement, then this an agreement should be made through the employees’ trade union.
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Daily and weekly rest periods

* No employee’s hours of work may be spread over more than 12 hours per day. ‘Spread over’ means from the start of work to the end of work, including any breaks for meals or rest and any overtime.
* No worker's hours of work may be spread over more than 12 hours per day. ('Spread over' means from the start of work to the end of work, including any breaks for meals or rest and any overtime.)
* A rest period of 1 hour is required after every 5 hours worked. This can be reduced to 30 minutes, if the worker and employer agree in writing.
* Every worker is entitled to a daily rest period of 12 hours from the end of work on one day to the start of work on the following day. This rest period can be reduced to 10 hours if a worker lives on the premises and gets a meal break of at least 3 hours (this may be relevant to domestic workers, caretakers, farmworkers, and so on).
* Every worker is entitled to a weekly rest period of 36 continuous hours. For many workers, this is over the weekend.
* An agreement in writing between the employer and employee may reduce the meal interval to not less than 30 minutes or do away with a meal interval if the employee works less than 6 hours on a day.

The agreement can also provide for a rest period of at least 60 consecutive hours (hours in a row) every two weeks.
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wheunis said:
Would you be so kind to point me in the direction of such a document, or whatever?
I would really appreciate that, seeing as i dont see anything in my letter of appointment or contract that looks to contradict this.
If i could have any sort of formal write-up of that rule, or guideline, or whatever it is, i would finally have some rest.
Click to expand...

Did you miss the link where I posted the basic conditions of employment act?
 
Debbie said:
You're correct of course.
Click to expand...

Or, it could be possible youre entirely wrong.
Yes i read the basic act long before i came here.
Yes i have searched amendments and industry specific additions over and over.

And no, NOWHERE that i can find is there ANY stipulation on (you might want to pay attention to my original question)

CONTINUOUS DAYS OF WORK.

CONTINUOUS
DAYS

But thank you for nothing anyway, Debbie.

Pitbull, Thanks, I would highly appreciate, even if you just provide me with the document's name, im sure i can find it somewhere online.
Just havent found any such yet.
 
wheunis said:
Or, it could be possible youre entirely wrong.
Yes i read the basic act long before i came here.
Yes i have searched amendments and industry specific additions over and over.

And no, NOWHERE that i can find is there ANY stipulation on (you might want to pay attention to my original question)

CONTINUOUS DAYS OF WORK.

CONTINUOUS
DAYS

But thank you for nothing anyway, Debbie.

Pitbull, Thanks, I would highly appreciate, even if you just provide me with the document's name, im sure i can find it somewhere online.
Just havent found any such yet.
Click to expand...

Such aggression!

I must point out that-
basic conditions of employment act said:
Chapter 2

An employer must allow an employee--

1b) a weekly rest period of at least 36 consecutive hours which, unless otherwise agreed, must include Sunday.
Click to expand...
covers your question, (you'll have to think about this one real hard).
 
wheunis said:
Or, it could be possible youre entirely wrong.
Yes i read the basic act long before i came here.
Yes i have searched amendments and industry specific additions over and over.

And no, NOWHERE that i can find is there ANY stipulation on (you might want to pay attention to my original question)

CONTINUOUS DAYS OF WORK.

CONTINUOUS
DAYS

But thank you for nothing anyway, Debbie.

Pitbull, Thanks, I would highly appreciate, even if you just provide me with the document's name, im sure i can find it somewhere online.
Just havent found any such yet.
Click to expand...

Sheesh. Making friends and influencing people...

You might also note that although the answer did not come in the form you wanted it was still an answer none the less. And, by the looks of it, an answer with the intent of helping you out.
A smidgen gratitude may be called for instead of snarky comments.
 
wheunis said:
But thank you for nothing anyway, Debbie.
Click to expand...

Boet (being from Nelspruit I assume it's fine to call you Boet)! Not a good idea to go slagging off people who are just trying to help.

I understand you're upset and emotional but if you really want a direct, complete, holistic, expensive answer go to a labor lawyer. On an open forum you'll get help eventually and if you are lucky someone will actually make of useful contribution to your plight. More than that you can't expect.
 
If your contract doesn't have anything in there to contradict the labor law, the labor law comes into effect by default.

Debbie, not everyone can interpret that website. I had to ask my dad a few times to help me with some of the rules.
 
AcidRaZor said:
If your contract doesn't have anything in there to contradict the labor law, the labor law comes into effect by default.

Debbie, not everyone can interpret that website. I had to ask my dad a few times to help me with some of the rules.
Click to expand...

Acid! no wonder you're having such cluck in Dubai. You're reading the South Africa labor act. Heavy bro.
 
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