Shutdown Periods
Many employers have a shutdown period over December. If this is the case, the employer is entitled to stipulate that annual leave must be taken to coincide with the shutdown period. Should an employee take their annual leave at another time during the year, then the shutdown period will be treated as unpaid leave.
How long is annual leave and when can I take it
The following are the ground rules. Public holidays are not counted as leave. Employees who work for 24 hours or more a month for the same employer may take annual leave. Every employee is entitled to 21 consecutive days annual leave on full pay in every leave cycle. This equates to 15 working days per annum if the employee works a five-day week, and 18 working days per annum if the employee works a six-day week. A leave cycle means a period of 12 months commencing from the first day of employment or commencing from the end of the previous leave cycle. Whatever number of normal working days falls within that, 21 consecutive days is the number of working days that the employee must be paid for. Employers may not pay workers instead of granting leave, except on termination of employment.
Is annual leave accrued
Annual leave is accrued, meaning that the number of days to which the employee is entitled starts at zero and increases with the passage of time as the leave cycle progresses. Therefore, at the start of the leave cycle the employee would have zero days leave due to him or her. There are two methods of calculating the accrual of annual leave as the leave cycle progresses. The first may only be applied with the prior agreement of the employee, On the 17th day of the leave cycle, the employee would have accrued one day leave. It should be noted that this method of accrual may only be applied by agreement with the employee. On the passage of every 17 days after that, another one-day annual leave accrues to the employees benefit. If there is no other agreement with the employee, then the accrual is allowed at 1, 25 days per month in the case of a five-day week worker, or 1, 5 days per month for a six-day week worker and so on. No employee agreement is required to apply this method of accrual.
Annual leave approval
Annual leave may only be taken by agreement between the employer and employee. In the absence of any such agreement, annual leave must be taken at a time to suit the employer. This means that the employer is entitled to have a policy stating that a certain period will be regarded as a shutdown period, and employees are required to take annual leave for the period of closure.
Do I get paid during annual leave
An employee must be paid in full during leave. Leave pay should be paid before the leave starts or on an employee normal payday. If an employee leaves the job he or she must be paid for any leave accrued but not taken at a rate of one day’s pay for every 17 days worked.
Annual Leave
It is the policy of TEMO CONSULTING to provide paid leave for all eligible employees to facilitate rest and relief from the everyday work routine or to attend to personal business that must be transacted during the employees scheduled business hours. Permanent employees are granted 20 working days per annum, with a maximum of 5 days per annum being available for deferment, subject to a maximum of 30 days deferred leave in total. Annual Leave should be taken not less than 10 months and not later than 15 months from the anniversary date of the employees commencing employment with the Company. Annual Leave is to be scheduled at a time that is most convenient to the staff members department, although the staff members preferences will also be given due consideration. A department head may, in the best interest of the Company, specify periods during which staff members may not take Annual Leave. All Annual Leave requests must be approved in advance by the staff members department head, and forwarded to the Administration Manager, who is responsible for ensuring that the employee is eligible for Annual Leave requested. Annual Leave may not be granted concurrent with any period of sick leave, or with a period of notice of termination of the contract of employment. Whenever a paid holiday occurs within the vacation period, the number of days charged as Annual Leave will not include the holiday. Annual Leave may not be converted to sick leave in the event an employee falls ill during his vacation. Upon termination of employment, an employee will be paid for all accrued, vested, unused Annual Leave at the employees current rate of pay in accordance with this policy, or as otherwise provided by law. Casual employees are not eligible for Annual Leave unless employment occurs via an Employment Agency.
