Employers across South Africa are faced with employees taking sick leave and the calculations of the wages that the employee are entitled to whilst being on sick leave.
In this article, the following will be explained:
- The number of days an employee is entitled to when the employee is sick;
- The proof that the employee needs to submit to qualify for paid sick leave;
- The calculation of the wages the employee is entitled to whilst being on sick leave.
The number of sick days an employee is entitled to
The amount of sick leave that an employee is entitled to is determined by Section 22 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Section 22 states as follows:
Sick leave:
- In this Chapter, ‘‘sick leave cycle’’ refers to a period of 36 months employment with the same employer immediately following:
(a) an employee’s commencement of employment; or
(b) the completion of that employee’s prior sick leave cycle;
- During every sick leave cycle, an employee is entitled to an amount of paid sick leave equal to the number of days the employee would normally work during a period of six weeks;
- Despite subsection (2), during the first six months of employment, an employee is entitled to one day’s paid sick leave for every 26 days worked.
The 36 months’ cycle means in a 3 (Three) year cycle from the date of employment. The employer must also take note of Section 22 (3) as stated above, seeing as the same deals with employees with a service period of 0 to 6 (Six) months.
During the first 6 (Six) months of employment, an employee will accumulate 1 (One) day paid sick leave for every 26 days worked. Any sick leave days taken during the first six months of employment will be deducted from the full entitlement of days that the employee will be entitled to over the 3 (Three) year cycle.
Therefore, if the employee works a five-day week, the employee will be entitled to 30 (Thirty) days paid sick leave during a (Three) year cycle.
If the employee works a six-day week, then the employee will be entitled to 36 (Thirty-Six) days paid sick leave during a 3 (Three) year cycle.
Employers must note that the sick leave is not 10 days per year, or 12 days per year, seeing as the same is calculated over a 3 (Three) year period.
In short, the employee will be entitled to the amount of days of sick leave that the employee works over a 6 (Six) week period. If an employee, therefore, only works 3 (Three) days per week, the employee will be entitled to 18 (Eighteen) days over a 3 (Three) year cycle.
In the evidence that an employee exceeds their entitled sick leave before the 3 (Thee) year cycle, the excess days will be regarded as unpaid leave.
The proof that the employee needs to submit to qualify for paid sick leave.
From the above, it is clear that an employee is entitled to paid sick leave. The employee must, however, submit proof to qualify for paid sick leave. The Basic Condition of Employment Act also determines the proof that an employee must submit.
Section 23 of the Act states as follows:
Proof of incapacity
Section 23:
- An employer is not required to pay an employee in terms of section 22 if the employee has been absent from work for more than two consecutive days or on more than two occasions during an eight-week period and, on request by the employer, does not produce a medical certificate stating that the employee was unable to work for the duration of the employee’s absence on account of sickness or injury;
- The medical certificate must be issued and signed by a medical practitioner or any other person who is certified to diagnose and treat patients and who is registered with a professional council established by an Act of Parliament.
An employee, therefore, needs to submit a medical certificate to qualify for paid sick leave. This medical certificate needs to be submitted when:
- The employee is sick for “more than two consecutive days”, meaning that a medical certificate only needs to be submitted from day 3. If the employee is absent for only 1 or 2 days, then the employee will be entitled to paid sick leave without having to produce a medical certificate.
- If the employee is absent on more than two occasions during an eight-week period. As stated above, an employee may be sick for one or two days without having to submit a medical certificate.
However, it is not as easy to be absent for ½ days and not submit any certificate. This means that if an employee is sick for 1 day, he does not have to submit a medical certificate, but if he is again sick within 8 weeks from this day, the employee must submit a medical certificate to qualify for paid sick leave.
The following example will be used to explain the above:
Employee X is sick on Monday, 10 May 2021 and does not come to work. In this case, there is no need for the employee to submit a medical certificate. The employee will qualify for paid sick leave.
The same employee, X, is again sick and absent on Wednesday, 23 June 2021. This is within an eight-week period, and for this reason the employee will have to submit a medical certificate to obtain paid sick leave.
The validity of a medical certificate will not be addressed for the purposes of this article.
The calculation of the wages that an employee is entitled to whilst being on sick leave.
It now has been explained that employees are entitled to paid sick leave, and the employer now needs to calculate what they need to pay the employee whilst the employee was on sick leave.
Herewith are the calculations:
- Monthly paid employees
There are 52 x weeks in a year.
Therefore, there is the following amount of weeks in a month:
52/12 = 4.333 weeks in a month
To come to a conclusion:
Employee’s monthly salary divided by 4.333 = the employee’s weekly wage.
Employee’s weekly wage divided by the number of days the employee works in a week = employee’s daily wage.
Employee’s daily wage x the number of days sick = sick leave to be paid
- Weekly paid employees
Employee’s weekly wage divided by the number of days the employee works in a week = employee’s daily wage.
Employee’s daily wage x the number of days sick = sick leave to be paid
Although sick leave is a huge burden on employers, employees are entitled to sick leave as per the above. Sick leave was implemented to protect an employee’s income in the unlikely event that the employee falls sick but may also not be abused by employees.
Contact your SEESA Labour Legal Advisor to assist your business with any Sick Leave queries you might have. Alternatively, SMS the word “SEESA” to 45776 for an expert legal advisor to contact you.
About the author:
Alicia Oberholzer started her career at SEESA in 2018 as a Legal Advisor, assisting clients with Labour and BEE related matters. She obtained her LLB Degree in 2016 from the University of the Free State and was admitted as an attorney in the Free State High Court in 2018.
Resources:
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997
- SA Labour Guide