Payment/Remuneration for recent public holidays.

[Shake&Bake]

Discussion flaring up at the office about which days we're allowed to claim for.

I'm on the fence as the legislation is not really too clear for me.
Perhaps you legal eagles or HR peeps could fill in some blanks please.

Our guys tell us the following:

If you worked Sunday 21st March – claim for Sunday (Sunday 0.50)
If you worked Monday 22nd March – claim PPH
If you worked Sunday 4th April – claim for Sunday (Sunday 0.50)
If you worked Monday 5th April – claim PPH

*(Sunday 0.50) being our normal Sunday Rate
*PPH being public holiday rate.

Anyone care to clear up the following from the Ammended Act for Public Holidays please?

Days to be observed as public holidays
2. (1) The days mentioned in Schedule 1 shall be public holidays, and
whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be
a public holiday.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), any public holiday
shall be exchangeable for any other day which is fixed by agreement or
agreed to between an employer and employee.

Now which day is the bloody public hoilday?
Is it the Sunday, the Monday or both?

 

[Dimpie (JIGSAW)]

Pay for work on Sundays

(1) An employer must pay an employee who works on a Sunday at double the employee's wage for each hour worked, unless the employee ordinarily works on a Sunday, in which case the employer must pay the employee at one and one- half times the employee's wage for each hour worked.

(2) If an employee works less than the employee's ordinary shift on a Sunday and the payment that the employee is entitled to in terms of subsection (1) is less than the employee's ordinary daily wage, the employer must pay the employee the employee's ordinary daily wage.

(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), an agreement may permit an employer to grant an employee who works on a Sunday paid time off equivalent to the difference in value between the pay received by the employee for working on the Sunday and the pay that the employee is entitled to in terms of subsections (1) and (2).

(4) Any time worked on a Sunday by an employee who does not ordinarily work on a Sunday is not taken into account in calculating an employee's ordinary hours of work in terms of section 9(1) and (2), but is taken into account in calculating the overtime worked by the employee in terms of section 10(1)(b).

(5) If a shift worked by an employee falls on a Sunday and another day, the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the Sunday, unless the greater portion of the shift was worked on the other day, in which case the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the other day.

(6) (a) An employer must grant paid time off in terms of subsection (3) within one month of the employee becoming entitled to it;
(b) An agreement in writing may increase the period contemplated by paragraph (a) to 12 months.

Public holidays

(1) An employer may not require an employee to work on a public holiday except in accordance with an agreement.

(2) If a public holiday falls on a day on which an employee would ordinarily work, an employer must pay-

(a)an employee who does not work on the public holiday, at least the wage that the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day;
(b)an employee who does work on the a public holiday-

(i)at least double the amount referred to in paragraph (a); or
(ii)if it is greater, the amount referred to in paragraph (a) plus the amount earned by the employee for the time worked on that day.

(3) If an employee works on a public holiday on which the employee would not ordinarily work, the employer must pay that employee an amount equal to-

(a)the employee's ordinary daily wage; plus
(b) the amount earned by the employee for the work performed that day, whether calculated by reference to time worked or any other method.

(4) An employer must pay an employee for a public holiday on the employee's usual pay day.

(5) If a shift worked by an employee falls on a public holiday and another day, the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the public holiday, but if the greater portion of the shift was worked on the other day, the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the other day.

I'm still confused .... luckily i'm off both days .... makes it easier

 

[Shake&Bake]

Ja I found that in the Basic Conditions of Employment too, but it's not answering the question for me either

I worked 21 and 22 March and then 4 April only.

I think regarding my earlier link and quote, we have to take the a look at a little bit of info ahead of what I'd quoted:

Definitions​

1. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates- "public holidays"
means the days mentioned in Schedule 1; and "this Act" includes the
Schedules.
(2) Any reference in any law to public holidays, shall be deemed to be a
reference to the public holidays as defined in this Act.-

Days to be observed as public holidays​

2. (1) The days mentioned in Schedule 1 shall be public holidays, and
whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be
a public holiday.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), any public holiday
shall be exchangeable for any other day which is fixed by agreement or
agreed to between an employer and employee.

The highlighted, red text; lets me think that the employer can exchange the Monday for the Sunday or the other way round.

What I would then gripe with is why for 4 April I can only claim for the normal Sunday rate instead of the Public Holiday rate.

According to what I'm grasping from the highlighted text I can only claim one public holiday for 21 and 22 March, but I still should be able to claim for the public holiday on Sunday 4 April.

Or am I missing something here?

 

[badtrev]

I could be wrong but I think that the Sunday 4 April (Easter Sunday)is not a public holiday - but Easter Monday is.

 

[Shake&Bake]

I could be wrong but I think that the Sunday 4 April (Easter Sunday)is not a public holiday - but Easter Monday is.

You're correct on that front - forgot about that.
So then what about the dates in March?

 

[Shake&Bake]

Copy of the e-mail I sent out to all of my department, including the boss and to the HR people as well

Hi All.

It’s obviously a touchy subject for some and I thought I’d like to share and also garner some information on the matter.

A)

Regarding the 21st and 22nd of March.
Legislation (as attached) says:

Days to be observed as public holidays

2. (1) The days mentioned in Schedule 1 shall be public holidays, and
whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be
a public holiday.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), any public holiday
shall be exchangeable for any other day which is fixed by agreement or
agreed to between an employer and employee.

Now what that effectively says is that the Monday the 22nd is the public holiday and not Sunday the 21st.
Now for those of us that have only worked on Sunday 21 March, you’re effectively losing out on Public Holiday rates.
And let us not be fooled that we can claim PPH rates for both the Sunday and Monday 

BUT – subsection (2) does say that the employer can exchange any public holiday for any other day, but this can only be done by agreement between the employer and employee.

So *company name* is not forced to, because of there not being any agreement (as far as I know)
But that does not mean that you/we cannot argue/protest/ask for an agreement.

B)

Regarding the 4th and 5th of April;

Sunday 4 April is Easter Sunday, a religious holiday, not a public holiday.
So there’s a no-go for Public Holiday there – however, yet again, subsection (2) can be protested/asked about, as Monday is a public holiday for those of us whom have only worked on the Sunday.

I thought this would be valid points for discussion or at least to get answers to, especially for us shift workers.

Regards

Next time my boss sees me, I know I'm going to get "a look"

Will be interesting to see if the HR peeps will opt for any agreements as per subsection (2). :erm:

 

[badtrev]

I guess its all good as long as you get whats due to you.

 

[Shake&Bake]

Well response from HR is that the discussion is open.

So we wait and see what happens.

 

[RazedInBlack]

Well response from HR is that the discussion is open.

Damn! HR is so good at avoiding the issue at hand!

 

[bex.cpt]

In my experience the following has always been the policy in companies. If the PH falls on a Sunday you get the monday off. You can only claim for ONE public holiday. So sunday gets booked as any other sunday BUT if you are working that monday public holiday rates apply. This is not rocket science but common sense. You can't expect public holiday rates for both sunday & momday the public holiday has been exchanged for the monday. Quoting BCE will change nothing. Common semse applies here it might be that the OP lacks this

 

[Shake&Bake]

Damn! HR is so good at avoiding the issue at hand!

Hehe, just had our departmental meeting today and the matter was brought up and is going for further discussion with HR.
Look, I'm good, I merely brought it up for those that had only worked the Sunday, March 21.
They're bitching and I thought I'd voice an opinion on the matter

In my experience the following has always been the policy in companies. If the PH falls on a Sunday you get the monday off. You can only claim for ONE public holiday. So sunday gets booked as any other sunday BUT if you are working that monday public holiday rates apply. This is not rocket science but common sense. You can't expect public holiday rates for both sunday & momday the public holiday has been exchanged for the monday. Quoting BCE will change nothing. Common semse applies here it might be that the OP lacks this

No shit Sherlock
If you'd read the e-mail that I'd sent to our HR department, that's exactly what I said.

What is up for discussion now is subsection (2) of Days to be observed as public holidays stating;
2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), any public holiday
shall be exchangeable for any other day which is fixed by agreement or
agreed to between an employer and employee.

So for those of my colleagues whom only worked the 21st, they're hoping to get HR and the department to allow them to claim for a public holiday rate on the Sunday.