Leave over notice period

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TheLaggingShaman

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Appreciate any legal info or personal experience here:

If you've applied for leave and had that leave approved, and then resign such that your leave will fall during your notice period - can your leave be revoked? Not currently dealing with this, but one I've thought about recently and haven't been able to find clarity on.

Cheers in advance
 
TheLaggingShaman said:
Appreciate any legal info or personal experience here:

If you've applied for leave and had that leave approved, and then resign such that your leave will fall during your notice period - can your leave be revoked? Not currently dealing with this, but one I've thought about recently and haven't been able to find clarity on.

Cheers in advance
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Yes it can be revoked citing business needs. You have resigned so the business has to mitigate the impact of your absence whilst they replace you. The longer they make you work, the less time is wasted between your leaving and your replacement starting.

That being said, you will be paid for your leave days.
 
Negotiate it with your Employer, that is how I did it. If push comes to shove you can offer to have it revoked, take unpaid leave which would balance itself out when the company pays out your leave balance.

Note that the above would only work in your favour if you hand in your resignation notice with more than a month's lead-time.
 
Your leave will be paid out to you.
We once had a guy here at work that resigned so the company forced him to take all his leave. Company just wanted him outta here asap. Not sure if this is legal or not. The guy leaving was all to happy to leave asap and still get paid out his normal monthly salary
 
Section 20 – Annual leave – (5)(b) of the BCEA says that an employer may not require or permit an employee to take annual leave during any period of notice of termination of employment.
 
Sinbad said:
it's ****ing illegal man.
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Yes it is illegal but many employers are willing to negotiate if the employee is not business critical and the separation is "unfriendly" they might agree that its better that the employee not show up. If it is amicable who is going to file charges?

OP read this for more info: https://www.labourman.co.za/can-an-employee-take-leave-after-giving-notice/

An employee can be allowed to take leave so he does not have to report to the workplace during his notice period, if the employer likes to. However, the employer must confirm that the employee has requested the leave and that the employer has granted it in writing.
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Nobody Important said:
Yes it is illegal but many employers are willing to negotiate if the employee is not business critical and the separation is "unfriendly" they might agree that its better that the employee not show up. If it is amicable who is going to file charges?

OP read this for more info: https://www.labourman.co.za/can-an-employee-take-leave-after-giving-notice/
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That labour man site makes no sense. The words may not in law are prescriptive.

The company may place the employee on special leave (garden leave) during notice but not deduct that from annual leave due.
 
Sinbad said:
it's ****ing illegal man.
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I've been in companies where they want you gone as soon as you resign. Their view is that if you are leaving you will not have their interests at heart nor will you be very productive.
 
TheLaggingShaman said:
Appreciate any legal info or personal experience here:

If you've applied for leave and had that leave approved, and then resign such that your leave will fall during your notice period - can your leave be revoked? Not currently dealing with this, but one I've thought about recently and haven't been able to find clarity on.

Cheers in advance
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Yes, no leave while serving notice. That is how it is.
 
Sanzer said:
I've been in companies where they want you gone as soon as you resign. Their view is that if you are leaving you will not have their interests at heart nor will you be very productive.
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What if you resign 6 months in advance?
 
Sanzer said:
I've been in companies where they want you gone as soon as you resign. Their view is that if you are leaving you will not have their interests at heart nor will you be very productive.
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That is different. They need to pay you for the notice you then "serve" at home. Most companies where people work with crucial data will be placed on "Garden/Guardian leave" It's not leave, it's serving your notice at home :D
 
I know what the act says by in practice it can be mutually agreed. In particular the notice period is the legal term here, so if you told an employer you are leaving in 6 months and in your employment contract your notice period is 1 calendar month the rule about not taking annual leave would only apply to the last 30 days. And as said many employers are more than happy to have an employee take leave during the notice period as a person on the way out is often not able to take on long term projects or work and might be a force of encouragement for others to leave. In my environment gardening leave is the rule in general and they are trying to move from 1 month to 3 month notice periods so if people here resign they often get a month or so to hand over their stuff and can then get 2 months gardening leave. I've seen that happen to my previous boss.

Its job dependent though. As an employer remaining leave has to be paid out when the employee leaves so if he rather wants to use it up and he has already mentally exited the company and hence is probably not working as hard that employee taking leave seems to save me money in the long term. Would depend on the person, the reason for leaving and a few other factors I guess.

The fact remains though once you resign its largely up to the company to decide what is in their best interests and you will have to comply. It is probably a good idea to not resign at a time when leave you really need is in the notice period.

From what I have heard what is more common especially if the resignation is forced, or acrimonious, the company may try to force the employee to take any leave he has left followed by unpaid leave to stop the negative impact on the company premises. That is definitely not allowed and in that situation the employee can effectively demand he remains at work for the notice period unless the company grants gardening leave as it is costing him the leave payout he would have otherwise been entitled to.
 
Sinbad said:
It is illegal to take or grant annual leave during notice period.
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Bull sheet.

I did exactly that - applied for leave, had it approved, and then resigned. Discussed it with my manager and he allowed me to continue taking leave, with the understanding being that leave COULD be revoked but was not.

It is certainly not illegal - this was at a company large enough that HR would be monitoring things like this and would have raised flags if it was. There are processes to be followed and multiple approvals needed for both leave applications and resignations, so it would be caught.

I repeat - NOT ILLEGAL. Just not normally allowed for obvious reasons.
 
Ancalagon said:
Bull sheet.

I did exactly that - applied for leave, had it approved, and then resigned. Discussed it with my manager and he allowed me to continue taking leave, with the understanding being that leave COULD be revoked but was not.

It is certainly not illegal - this was at a company large enough that HR would be monitoring things like this and would have raised flags if it was. There are processes to be followed and multiple approvals needed for both leave applications and resignations, so it would be caught.

I repeat - NOT ILLEGAL. Just not normally allowed for obvious reasons.
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Might be technically illegal, but I had the same experience. I left my last job at a fairly big corporate, 1 month notice, couldn't really start anything new during that month, did my hand over, they then gave me a week off and I came back to work my final week to see if we had covered everything. They also had a dedicated HR function and they didn't bat an eyelid about me taking leave.
 
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