Inside this issue...

- Does Diwali count as a public holiday?

Dear labour news reader,

A happy New Year to you! Hopefully by now you’ve nursed the consequences of ringing 2009 in, and are rearing to go?

Just because the BIG holiday is behind us, doesn’t mean you don’t have to think about employee leave until December. South Africa has a cosmopolitan and eclectic mix of people and cultures, and it’s easy to be unsure of which religious holidays your staff are entitled to take time off for. For example...

Is your employee allowed a day off for Diwali?

Question

One of our employees is Hindu. She requested the day off for Diwali, a religious holiday, on 28 October.

Is she entitled to it?

Answer

South African statutes don’t recognise Diwali as a public holiday. You don’t have to give your employee the day off to celebrate.
You may consider giving her the day off either on an unpaid basis or as a paid annual leave day.

This is just one of many niggling little questions presented to you on a daily basis. We have a simple solution to all the HR or labour questions you need answered on the spot.

We’ve gathered 384 top tips, warnings and checklists to help answer your questions relating to 67 different labour and HR subjects. Questions like:

• how much sick leave are employees entitled to in their first six months of employment?
• when can you ask for a sick leave certificate?
• when are employees entitled to family responsibility leave?
• what is the maximum amount of overtime an employee can work?
• do you have to pay all employees for overtime?
• when must you update your employment contracts?

I don’t want to inundate you with information on your first week back, so that’s all from me until a fortnight. 

Yours sincerely,

Lucelle Buchler
Editor-in-Chief

PS: If you have a query regarding payments, deliveries and change of address details, please send an email to gcs@fsp.co.za.