PUBLIC HOLIDAYS ON A SUNDAY
Whenever a public Holiday falls on a Sunday our Offices are inundated with calls from Employers who want to know what the law states for employees ordinarily work on Sundays – Are they paid Public Holiday rates for the Sunday AND the Monday, OR only for the Monday.
Many employers have different interpretations of what Section 18 of the Basic Conditions of Act is saying and it causes great confusion.
Our source of reference on the subject is case number JR 1218/05, held in the Labour Court, Johannesburg, between Randfontein Estates Ltd v National Union of Mineworkers. Randfontein Estates sought an order declaring that where a public holiday falls on a Sunday, then the following Monday shall be a public holiday in substitution for, or instead of, the public holiday on the Sunday.
Section 1 (1) of the Public Holidays Act defines the phrase “public holidays” to mean ‘ the days mentioned in schedule 1 and any other day declared to be a public holiday under section 2K”. This indicates that a date determined to be a public holiday does not change its character merely because it falls on a Sunday. It remains a public holiday. The Monday succeeding the public holiday on the Sunday is added to the list of public holidays – it is not instead of or in substitution for any public holiday on the list of public holidays.
From the above, and without going into verbatim detail of the judgement, the Court found that the Monday is a public holiday additional to the public holiday on the Sunday.
However, this leaves us hanging in mid-air on the question – what happens with an employee who ordinarily works on a Sunday, does in fact work on the Sunday (which is a public holiday) and also works on the Monday (which is a public holiday. Does he get double pay for both days?
The answer is: if a public holiday falls on a Sunday, then the following Monday is a public holiday, and there are thus 2 public holidays – namely the Sunday and Monday.
For any additional information contact Rob @ 0837740972 or 0343121067 www.ladrc.co.za
