Section 14Part 3 — LEAVE
Vacation and compassionate leave
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An employee is entitled to leave with pay in accordance with the scale specified in subsection (3), and such leave shall be taken in the year following its accrual, and only after the employee has been in employment for at least twelve months, unless otherwise agreed under subsection (2).
An employee and employer may by contract or arrangement agree that leave shall, at the end of each month, accrue proportionately to the yearly entitlement in order to facilitate its taking before the completion of twelve months of employment.
Minimum vacation leave entitlement is as follows —
for a period of continuous employment not exceeding four years, two weeks;
for a period of continuous employment exceeding four years but not exceeding ten years, three weeks;
for a period of continuous employment exceeding ten years, four weeks.
An employer in a seasonal undertaking shall proportion leave in accordance with the time worked by his employees during each year and by contract or arrangement may require that employees take leave during times of low business.
Vacation leave shall be in addition to public holidays, sick leave and rest periods prescribed under this Law.
The dates upon which leave is to be taken shall be fixed by arrangement between the employer and employee.
By arrangement between the employer and employee, vacation leave not yet earned may be taken in advance.
Vacation leave is not cumulative and shall be taken or sold back to the employer annually unless otherwise agreed by contract or by arrangement.
An employer shall not compel a wage earning employee to forego vacation leave, but may offer to pay to the employee his regular or a higher rate of remuneration to forego all or part of his accrued vacation leave.
Except where leave is forfeited under section 11 (2), whenever the employee's employment is terminated, the employer shall pay him a sum equivalent of his average daily wage for each vacation day due to him and for any public holiday not taken at the employer's request.
The rate of vacation pay shall not be less than the average daily wage of the employee at the beginning of the leave.
An employee shall, for each period of twelve months' employment, be entitled to five days' fully-paid compassionate leave on the death or serious illness of a member of his immediate family so long as the employee provides reasonable evidence of such death or illness to the employer.
Compassionate leave is not cumulative and the employee shall not in any circumstances be paid in lieu of such leave if the leave is not taken.
In this section —
"serious illness" means a period of a person's admittance to a hospital as an in-patient, recuperation from such hospitalisation and includes a period of overseas travel related to such hospitalisation or recuperation;
"immediate family" means a parent, spouse or child and includes any other person whom the employee holds in the same regard as a member of his immediate family and the employer, on reasonable evidence being provided, recognises as such.
Defined Terms
serious illnessimmediate family
Cross References
- Section 11 of Employment Act
Forfeiture of leave