Can you take Friday off from work to protest – and will you still get paid?
The National Employers’ Association of South Africa (NEASA) has issued a series of guidelines to employers and employees around the country regarding the anticipated protest action on 7 April 2017.
“There has been a lot of speculation doing the rounds as to the rights of employees to attend the planned protest action or alternatively where employees do not wish to report for duty due to safety reasons,” said Gerhard Papenfus, chief executive of NEASA.
The issue is further complicated as the protest action is not regulated by the Labour Relations Act. This means that as always, the granting of leave always remain the sole prerogative of the employer, said Papenfus.
“However, in considering whether or not leave should be granted for the purposes of this protest action, employers must be mindful not to establish a precedent by the granting of leave, especially since employees might expect to be granted a similar privilege should they wish to participate in similar future mass action.”
“In the absence of any arrangement to this effect with the employer, the unauthorized absence from work will trigger the ‘no work no pay’ principle and normal disciplinary procedures should apply,” the employment expert said.
Papenfus recommended that employers and employees could remove all risk from the equation by considering closing their businesses for the day.
“In this instance employees must be remunerated for the day,”Papenfus said.
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