There are quite a few types of leave in South Africa: Annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave (sometimes referred to compassionate leave), maternity leave, parental leave, adoption leave, commissioning parental leave and more. Of the types of leave the one I get the most questions about is – sick leave.
Therefore, my goal with today’s post is to cover all the important information about sick leave. This post is likely to be useful for employers, managers, superiors, employee representatives / shop stewards / trade union representatives, payroll consultations, bookkeepers and employees.
Disclaimer: This post only relates to sick leave as it is detailed in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (“the Act”). If your business falls under a sectoral determination or bargaining council main agreement (especially those with sick leave funds), please supplement the information provided in this blog with the information contained in your sectoral determination or bargaining council main agreement.
Let’s get into how sick leave works in South Africa.
How many days paid sick leave does an employee get in the first 6 months of employment?
They get 1 day for every 26 days worked.
Note: while annual leave can be changed (by agreement) to 1 hour for every 17 hours worked, the Act does not have a provision that allows sick leave to be changed to 1 hour for every 26 hours worked and therefore I would recommend leaving it as 1 day for every 26 days worked.
How many days paid sick leave does an employee get (after completing their first 6 months of employment)?
An employee gets the number of days they would ordinarily work in a 6-week period for every sick leave cycle.
Therefore, an employee who works 5 days a week is entitled to 30 paid sick leave days per sick leave cycle.
An employee who works 6 days a week is entitled to 36 paid sick leave days per sick leave cycle.
Note: Any paid sick leave taken during the first 6 months of employment is deducted from the total sick leave entitlement for the sick leave cycle. The first 6 months of employment is included in the first sick leave cycle in terms of calculating the time frame.
How long is a sick leave cycle?
36 months (3 years).
How to I calculate paid sick leave for an employee whose working days vary?
You take the average of the preceding 13 weeks.
If the employee has not worked for 13 weeks, then you use 1 day for every 26 days worked.
How much do I pay an employee for sick leave?
You pay them their ordinary daily wage for each sick leave day taken.
If they pay varies take the average of the preceding 13 weeks or if they have worked less than 13 weeks, take the average they have earned in the time they have been working.
How do I calculate a daily wage for employees who earn monthly salaries?
Take the monthly salary divided by 4.33. This will give you their weekly remuneration. Divide that by the number of days they ordinary work in a week to get the daily wage.
Example: An employee earns R20 000 per month. Their weekly remuneration is R20 000 / 4.33 = R4 618.94. If they work five days a week, their daily remuneration is R4 618.94 / 5 = R923.79.
Can I pay an employee less than their ordinary daily wage for sick leave?
Yes, but only by agreement.
How this works:
An employer and an employee can agree to reduce the pay for sick leave, but then the number of sick leave days needs to increase with the same proportion.
The payment cannot be less than 75% of the employee’s ordinary remuneration.
Found in Section 22(6) of the Basic Conditions.
This can only be implemented by agreement. If you would like to use my sick leave agreement template, you can find that HERE for a small fee.
Note: The template prices are in dollars, because this allows them to be available immediately and automatically after payment has been received. You are still able to make the purchase with your South African bank card. Once payment has been made your document will be available for download by clicking on the light blue writing or going to the Purchase History Page.
When must an employee produce a medical certificate to be entitled to paid sick leave?
If their absence from work extends two consecutive days (3 days or more) or if they are absent on more than 2 occasions in an 8-week period. I will elaborate on this by answering more questions.
Quick pause to let you know I made a video on paid sick leave that extensively covers the requirements for medical certificates and my recommendations if you would like to watch that. It helps me to continue to make videos and provide free information if you watch my videos, subscribe to my channel and like or comment on my videos.
What happens if I (the employer) want an employee to bring a sick note for every day they are absent?
You may have a rule or policy in your company that states that you require a medical certificate to be produced for each day the employee is absent due to illness or injury, however:
The employee must know before that you expect this of them.
The employee is still entitled to be paid for that day even if they do not produce a medical certificate if their absence does not extend 2 consecutive days or is not more than 2 times in an 8-week period.
If they fail to produce a medical certificate and you have a clear policy on what is expected of them, you may issue them with a warning for unauthorised absence (after allowing them a fair opportunity to state their case) or any other appropriate disciplinary/corrective action.
I recommend weighing up the business requirements before implementing this policy, because there are times when individuals need to rest to recover and they may not necessarily be so ill that they would ordinary go to a doctor.
If I don’t require a medical certificate every day, how do I stop employees from abusing their sick leave?
An employee is required to produce a medical certificate if they are absent on more than 2 occasions in an 8 week period. Therefore, if they are regularly absent due to illness, it is likely that it will be more than 2 times in an 8 week period.
Alternatively, if an employee is absent on a regular basis due to illness or injury to the extent that it is causing disruptions in the workplace, an employer may investigate whether the employee is fit for work (by conducting an incapacity investigation). If you would like me to explain how an incapacity investigation is done fairly let me know in the comments below.
How do I keep accurate records of leave taken?
I recommend making use of my leave form. You can find my leave form HERE for a small fee.
Do I give an employee sick leave if they were injured at work?
No, do not use sick leave for workplace injuries or diseases. Follow the workplace injury or disease procedure and payment is done in accordance with COIDA (Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act).
Do I have to accept clinic notes as medical certificates?
It depends who signed and issued the clinic note. If it was a professional who is registered with a council (such as the Health Professions council of South Africa) and who is allowed to diagnose and treat, then yes.
If the clinic note is an attendance note, then no.
I would recommend watching my video for more information on medical certificates.
You can also use my sick leave policy template and adapt it to your business to ensure employees know what will and will not be accepted as valid proof of sick leave.
Concluding remarks
I will cover altered medical certificates and fraudulent medical certificates in another post, but for now, you can get that information in my video, and I recommend my sick leave policy template that covers what is expected of employees and what consequences they could face should they produce certificates that are not valid.
Comment down below if you have any other questions about sick leave and once I have a few questions to address I will make another post covering all the information that is not covered in this post.
Disclaimer: I cannot cover all the scenarios in this post, therefore this piece is for educational purposes only. Book a consultation with a professional if you need to.
I hope this information is helpful,
(Director of Fourie Employment Relations & Employment Relations Practitioner)