Leave policy
Purpose
The purpose of the policy is to:
- Provide clear policy for the granting of leave for employees;
- Set out criteria, conditions and methods whereby leave may be granted and; Ensure consistency in the granting of leave.
Application
This policy applies to all New Media Labs Services (Pty) Ltd, hereinafter referred to as "the Company" employees.
Definitions
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Accrued leave | Refers to leave days provided at an incremental rate (e.g. 1.67 days per month up to 20 days per annum). |
| Accumulated leave | Refers to any untaken leave days which are carried forward. |
| Calendar year | 1 January to 31 December, both dates included. |
| Doctor’s certificate | A written statement from a physician or another medically qualified health care provider which attests to the result of a medical examination of a patient. It can serve as a "sick note" or evidence of a health condition. |
| Employee | An employee who is in the employment of the Company on a permanent full-time/part-time basis. |
| Manager | A person with direct managerial responsibility for a particular employee. |
| Starter | New employee who has joined the Company. |
Annual Leave
NML employees receive 20 days annual leave per annum. Annual leave will be accrued. Please note that seven to nine days out of the 20 days will be reserved for NML’s annual two week shut-down around the Christmas/New Year period.
Ten days of annual leave must be used within the calendar year. If leave is carried over into a new year, it has to be used within six months of the previous leave cycle elapsing. Should excess leave not be utilised within this period, such leave will be forfeited.
Please note that NML only pays out a maximum of 15 days annual leave upon resignation/termination of the employment relationship.
Annual leave is the only form of leave where staff is allowed, under special circumstances, to go into a negative. This is with special cause, eg. getting married, and must first be approved by Management.
Sick leave
If an employee is sick, the following is expected:
- The employee must call their direct manager prior to his/her normal start time, and no later than 09:00am. The employee must inform the Employer of their expected date of return to work on the first day of absence.
- If the employee requests someone to phone in on their behalf, the person must contact the relevant manager before 9am on the first day of absence. The person must also advise the Employer of the date on which the employee will resume work.
- The direct manager or Office Manager must be informed of the employee’s expected date of return to office on the first day of absence.
- When calling in the employee must speak to their direct manager.
- If the manager is not available, the employee should contact the Office Manager.
- If sick leave lasts for more than two days the employee must provide the Company with a valid doctor’s certificate.
- If sick is utilised on either a Monday, Friday, before/after a public holiday, or before/after/between booked annual leave the employee must provide a valid doctor’s certificate.
- If absent on two occasions during an eight-week period the employee will be required to bring a valid doctor’s certificate for the period of absence(s).
- Starters will be entitled to one paid sick day for every 26 days worked within the first six months of employment. Any sick leave taken in excess of their entitlement will be unpaid.
- Employees are not allowed to go into a negative sick leave balance.
- Please note that NML expects staff to communicate with their Project Manager or direct line manager on every day of absence.
If an employee fails to communicate with the Company, the employee will be marked as absent without authorised leave and a disciplinary procedure may follow. If an employee cannot provide the Company with a valid doctor’s note as outlined above the employee will either have those days unpaid or have those days deducted from their annual leave, if they have accumulated enough annual leave.
Family responsibility leave
Family responsibility leave is available only to employees who have been employed for longer than four months, and who work more than four days per week for the employer.
Employees may take four days of paid family responsibility leave during each annual leave cycle.
Family responsibility leave expires at the end of the calendar year. An employee is entitled to take family responsibility leave as a half day, if that is all that is required. Family responsibility leave may not be claimed for any reason other than the reasons stated below.
You may take family responsibility leave:
- When your child is sick;
- When your child is born (applicable to NML dads and adopting NML parents only) In the event of death of: - Spouse or life partner - Parent or adoptive parent - Grandparent - Child or adopted child - Grandchild - A sibling
The employer may require reasonable proof of the birth, illness or death for which the employee requests leave.
Study Leave
An employee may be granted 10 days paid study leave per annum, i.e. one day for the purpose of writing the exam and another day for preparation purposes per subject, to a maximum of 10 days per year.
In the event of two exams being written on the same day, one day will be granted for the purpose of writing the exam, and two days for study purposes. Should an exam fall on a non-working day, only one day’s study leave will be granted for study purposes i.e. no study leave for the purpose of writing the exam.
Study leave must be justified and substantiated by documentation before the leave application is approved/declined by Management.
Study leave is not accumulative. The approval of study leave will be at the discretion of the manager.
Maternity Leave
All expectant mothers are entitled to take four months maternity leave, regardless of length of service and in terms of the BCEA. Unless otherwise arranged, the date on which the expectant mother returns to work will normally be the first working day four months after her maternity leave began.
Employees with 6-12 months of continuous service will receive 25% of their normal salary. The remaining amount will have to be claimed from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). Employees with 12-18 months of continuous service will receive 50% of their normal salary. The remaining percentage will have to be claimed from the UIF. Employees with 18 months or more of continuous service will receive 66% of their normal salary and the remaining percentage will have to be claimed from the UIF.
This benefit is subject to a limitation of two periods of maternity leave.
Should the recipient resign from NML within six months of returning after her maternity leave, she will be expected to repay the full maternity amount granted.
Paternity Leave
Because NML believes in a healthy work-life balance, the Company offers NML Fathers five days’ paid leave per annum for the birth of their child. NML allows for paternity leave to be taken in conjunction with annual leave, family responsibility leave or unpaid leave.
Please note that the paternity leave granted by NML is limited to two occasions only as this is an expense incurred by the Company. The employee is free to claim Parental Leave benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund for any subsequent paternity leave they may require.
The Company reserves the right to request reasonable proof of the birth for which the employee requests leave.
Moving Day
NML understands that moving can be stressful and time-consuming. Therefore we offer employees one paid day off per annum to move and settle into their new place.
The Company reserves the right to request reasonable proof, such as a rental agreement, of the move for which leave is requested.
Religious Leave
In the interest of inclusivity, NML allows all staff of non-Christian faiths to exchange two Christian public holidays for two working days as religious leave. As an example, a Muslim employee may therefore work on Good Friday and Family Day, without additional compensation, in order to take two days leave for Eid al-Fitr.
When applying to exchange two religious public holidays for two normal working days, the onus will be on the employee to prove that they will be able to work productively for a full eight hours during each of the public holidays on which they are planning to work. Approval of such an exchange will be at Management’s discretion and in line with the operational requirements of NML.
Unpaid Leave
Unpaid leave is commonly used when annual leave has run out and will come into effect automatically when other leave quotas have been depleted. Annual leave does not accrue during an extended period of unpaid leave.
Responsibility and Procedure
Applications for leave must be done via PaySpace with accompanying documentation, which must be authorised by your Manager. Employees are not allowed to go into a negative leave balance.
In order for your manager and team to ensure that work continues uninterrupted in your absence, leave should be requested one month in advance.
The Company acknowledges that emergencies do arise and in such cases expect that the employee requests leave as soon as practically possible.