Payment on public holidays can be difficult when the work is conducted on a day the employee would normally have worked versus a day the employee would not normally have worked. In this regard, there are three common scenarios.
- If an employee does not work on a Wednesday (which is a normal working day, in accordance with agreement), and that Wednesday during any particular time of the year, falls on a public holiday; the employee must be paid their normal daily rate. I.e. if the worker is contracted for eight hours a day (ordinary hours) @ R20/h, the employee will be paid R160 for that day, because it is a public holiday and the employee does not have to work on such particular day. (SD13, Sec. 20(2)(a)).
- If an employee works on a Wednesday (which is a normal working day, in accordance with agreement), and that Wednesday during any particular time of the year, falls on a public holiday; the employee must firstly agree to work on this day and be paid double their daily wage for that day’s work, regardless of the amount of hours worked. I.e. if the worker is contracted for eight hours a day (ordinary hours) @ R20/h, the employee works for five hours on that day, the employee will be paid for 8 + 8 hours at R20/h = R320 for this day. (SD13, Sec. 20(2)(b)(i)).
- If an employee works on a Saturday (which is not a normal working day, in accordance with agreement), and that Saturday during any particular time of the year, falls on a public holiday; the employee must firstly agree to work on this day and be paid their normal daily wage, plus hours worked. I.e. if the employee normally works eight hours a day (ordinary hours) and on this particular day, works four hours, the employee will be remunerated at 8 + 4 hours at R20/h = R240. (SD 13, Sec. 20(3)(a) & (b)).
See the SIZA Social Standard, code requirement 9.4.2 for more information: https://siza.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SIZA_Social_Standard_February_2020_V6.0.pdf
