Can a company force you to take leave?

Can a company force you to take leave?

The employer may not require (force) or permit (allow) an employee to take annual leave during any other period of leave to which the employee is entitled.

Can my employer ask me to take leave?

An employer can direct an employee to take annual leave, but only when an award or registered agreement allows it and the requirement is reasonable. A requirement to take annual leave may be reasonable if, for example: the employee has an excessive annual leave balance.

How many leave days per month in South Africa?

A worker is entitled to 21 consecutive days of paid annual leave. Alternatively, a worker may be entitled to one day of leave for every 17 days worked or one hour for every 17 hours worked (on mutual agreement).

Are you legally entitled to take unpaid leave?

In the most part, unpaid leave comes down to employer discretion. That said, there are two areas where unpaid leave is protected by law: Caring or parental rights such as parental leave. Time off to carry out public duties, specifically jury service and magistrate duties.

Can my employer refuse to give me annual leave?

Your employer can refuse permission for your holiday as long as they give you notice which is at least as long as the holiday requested. So to refuse a request for a week’s leave, they would have to tell you a week in advance. Your contract may set out other rules about when you can take your holiday.

Can an employer refuse to give you annual leave?

Yes, your employer can refuse your holiday request, for example during busy periods. Although your employer can refuse to give you holiday leave at a certain time, they cannot refuse to let you take your minimum leave entitlement of 28 days for the year.

What is the 8 week rule?

The 8-week period shall be a calendar period and shall commence on the first day of an employee’s absence due to illness or injury. Any subsequent day(s) of absence due to illness or injury after the above-mentioned period, must then be regarded as the first day of the next 8-week period.

Can leave days be forfeited?

Any leave which is not taken by an employee within the 6 months preceding the annual leave cycle will be forfeited. The above mentioned only applies to statutory leave (i.e. the 21 consecutive leave days prescribed by the BCEA). Any other leave granted to an employee does not fall subject to this determination.

Can my employer stop me from taking unpaid leave?

An employer can also refuse a request for unpaid leave in the case of family emergency or to carry out public duties if they consider that the employee would then be taking an unreasonable amount of time off.

How long can you be on unpaid leave?

Forced unpaid leave There’s no limit to how long you can lay-off an employee, but if they’ve been away from work for four weeks in a row, or six weeks within a 13-week period where no more than six weeks are consecutive, then they can apply for redundancy pay and resign from their position.

Can you be fired for taking too much sick leave?

Under the Fair Work Act 2009, an employer is not allowed to dismiss an employee if the employee is temporarily absent from work because of illness or injury. However, you may have a reasonable case for dismissing an employee if they take extended periods of time off work or exhaust their sick leave.

Do you need a sick note for one day off work?

Fact – An employer can only request a medical certificate if an employee has been absent from work for more than two consecutive days – in other words, from the third day onwards. An employer can also request a sick note if an employee takes a day sick leave more than twice in eight weeks.

What happens if I don’t take my annual leave?

You might lose your holiday if you haven’t given enough notice to take your remaining holiday before the end of the leave year. Try to negotiate with your employer – if they won’t let you take it all, they might let you carry some holiday over into your next leave year.