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Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995)

Notices

National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry

Main Collective Agreement

Part C : Provisions for the KwaZulu-Natal Region

9. Hours of Work and Overtime

 

(1) Hours of Work: A five day week shall be observed from Monday to Friday inclusive and the ordinary hours of work of an employee shall not exceed—
(a) 42½ hours, excluding meal intervals in any week from Monday to Friday, inclusive;
(b) 8½ hours on any day between the hours of 07:00 and 18:00;
(c) except that, in the case of an employee wholly engaged as a boiler attendant, the weekly hours may be 45 and the daily hours may be 9.

 

(2)

(a) All hours of work in any day shall, except for meal intervals, be consecutive.
(b) An employer shall not require or permit an employee to work more than five consecutive hours continuously without a meal interval of at least half an hour, provided that if such interval be for longer than half an hour, the period in excess of half an hour shall be deemed to be hours of work.

 

(3) An employee shall be deemed to be working in addition to any period during which he is actually working—
(a) during the whole of any interval in his work if he is not free to leave the workroom of his employer for the whole of such interval;
(b) during any other period during which he is in the workroom of his employer:

Provided that if it is proved that any such employee was not working and was free to leave the workroom during any part of any such period, the presumption provided for in this subclause shall not apply in respect of such employee with reference to that part of such period.

 

(4)

(a) All time worked—
(i) in excess of the ordinary hours set out in clause 8 (1); or
(ii) before 07:00 and after 18:00 on Monday to Friday, except in the case of boiler attendants, shall be deemed to be overtime.
(b) No employer shall require or permit an employee to work overtime for more than—
(i) 10 hours in any week;
(ii) two hours on any day (Monday to Friday).
(c) No overtime in excess of one and a half hours, from Monday to Friday, may be required or permitted of an employee unless the employer—
(i) has given notice thereof to such employee the previous day;
(ii) provides such employee with an adequate meal before he/she has to commence overtime or pays such employee an allowance of R5,00 in sufficient time to enable him to obtain a meal before the overtime is due to commence.
(d) An employee shall not be required to work overtime without his consent and an employee shall not be dismissed by reason of his refusal to work overtime.

 

(5) No overtime in excess of that stated in terms of clause 9 (4) (b) shall be allowed unless permission has been obtained, in writing, from the Council prior to the performance of such work. In cases of urgency, the Secretary may issue provisional authority, which shall be valid until the next meeting of the Council.

 

(6) In respect of overtime worked an employer shall pay to—
(a) an employee wholly or mainly engaged as a boiler attendant at a rate which is not less than one and a half times the weekly wage prescribed for an employee of his respective class of work divided by 45;
(b) an employee who is employed as a piece-worker at a rate which is not less than 1½, times the piece-work rates or 1½ times his weekly wage divided by 42½, whichever is the greater;
(c) all other employees, at a rate which is not less than one and a half times the weekly wage divided by 42½, provided that if overtime calculated on a daily basis differs from that calculated on a weekly basis, the basis more favourable to the employee shall be adopted;
(d) an employee in respect of overtime worked on a Saturday which is in excess of 4¼ hours or after 12h00 at double the ordinary hourly rate.

 

(7) Sunday work. Whenever an employee works on Sunday with the written permission of the Council, his employer shall either—
(a) pay to the employee—
(i) if he so works for a period not exceeding four hours, not less than the ordinary remuneration payable in respect of the period ordinarily worked by him on a week-day; or
(ii) if he so works for a period exceeding four hours, remuneration at a rate not less than double his ordinary rate of remuneration, in respect of the total period worked on such Sunday, or remuneration which is not less than double the ordinary remuneration payable in respect of the period ordinarily worked by him on a week-day, whichever is the greater; or
(b) pay the employee remuneration at a rate not less than one and one-third times his ordinary rate of remuneration in respect of the total period worked on such Sunday and grant him within seven days of such Sunday one day"s holiday and pay him in respect thereof remuneration at a rate not less than his ordinary rate of remuneration as if he had on such holiday worked his average ordinary working hours for that day of the week.

 

(8)

(a) There shall be installed and maintained in working order in every establishment—
(i) one or more bells, or other audible signals, which shall operate automatically and indicate all times for starting and for stopping work;
(ii) one or more time clocks for the clocking in and out of employees: Provided that an employee shall be paid for the time which the employee has worked notwithstanding that the employee has not clocked in or clocked out.
(b) Unless written exemption is obtained from the Council or Exemptions Board in terms of clause 23, every employee shall, unless prevented by sickness or other unavoidable circumstances at the establishment, clock in and clock out every working day, and no employee may clock in for any other employee in such establishment.

 

(9)

(a) The employer shall grant to each employee rest intervals of not less than 15 minutes during the morning work periods and 10 minutes during the afternoon work periods. Rest intervals shall be granted as nearly as practicable to the middle of each morning and afternoon and such intervals shall be reckoned as part of the usual working hours, but no employer shall require an employee to perform work during such interval.
(b) For the purposes of this subclause the first half of any normal shift of more than five hours shall be deemed to be a morning work period, and the second half of any such normal shift, an afternoon work period.

 

(10) No employer shall allow an employee to work a night shift unless permission has been obtained in writing, from the Council, prior to the performance of such work.

 

(11) An employer may, in order to make up time lost through not working on any day which is a normal working day, permit his employees to work overtime on any day except Sunday prior or subsequent to the day not worked at ordinary rates of pay, provided such working-in takes place within a twelve (12) calendar month period of the original day not worked.

 

(12) The provisions of this clause shall not apply to watchmen, except as provided below:

(a)

(i) An employer shall grant to each of his watchmen one full day of rest during every seven consecutive days, but, if an employer requires or permits such an employee to work on his day of rest, the hours worked shall be deemed not to be part of the ordinary hours of work, and the employee shall be paid for such work an amount of not less than double his daily wage;
(ii) an employer shall grant his watchmen, other than a daily employee, not less than six days of rest in every six consecutive weeks of employment.
(b) Provided that—
(i) an employer shall make no deduction from the watchman"s wage in respect of days of rest;
(ii) an employer may, in lieu of granting his watchman any such day of rest, pay him double his daily wage in respect of each such day of rest not granted;
(iii) where a watchman"s contract of employment terminates before he has been granted all the days of rest to which he has become entitled by virtue of this subclause, his employer shall pay him in respect of each such day of rest not granted an amount of not less than his daily wage;
(iv) for the purposes of this sub clause the expression "day of rest" means a period of 24 consecutive hours calculated from the time the watchman normally commences duty, and "daily wage" means the employee"s weekly wage divided by six.

 

(13) Twilight Shift
(a) General provisions: Subject to the provisions contained in this part of the Agreement an employer may establish a twilight shift, the establishment and operation of which shall be subject to the following conditions:
(i) Only unemployed people may be recruited for working this shift.
(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of subclause 1 (a) above, supervisory and management staff from the existing staff complement of the employer’s business may be employed on a twilight shift.
(iii) A twilight shift may only operate between the hours 16h30 to 23h00 daily from Monday to Friday.
(b) Employment conditions: Staff employed on the twilight shift shall be subject to the following employment conditions:
(i) All provisions contained in this part of the Agreement, unless specifically excluded, shall be applicable to employees employed on a twilight shift.
(ii) The remuneration payable to a twilight shift worker shall accrue at an hourly rate.
(iii) A twilight shift worker shall not be entitled to the payment of a shift allowance.
(c) Transport arrangements: The following conditions will apply to the transportation of employees working on a twilight shift:
(i) The cost of transport from the work place to the home of employees will be funded by the employer; and/or
(ii) The employer will be responsible for the arrangements and expenses of transport from the work place to the homes of the employees at the conclusion of a twilight shift; Provided that where an employer and employee agree that the employee shall make the practical arrangements for transport home, this shall be permissible provided the employer shall still be responsible for the costs of such transport.

 

(14) Aggregation of Overtime

 

For the purposes of determining the number of hours, or part thereof, which an employee should be paid at overtime rates, the hours worked outside the employee’s normal working hours in terms of clause 9(1) of this part of the Agreement may be reduced by the number of hours or part thereof, in that pay week that the employee was absent.

 

Provided that no reduction of the overtime worked by an employee shall be made should the absence result from any of the following:

(i) time not worked as a result of protected industrial/protest action;
(ii) time not worked as a result of a public holiday as declared in terms of the Public Holidays Act;
(iii) time not worked as a result of the employer having declared short time;
(iv) time not worked as a result of the employee being on authorised shop steward stewards time off; and
(v) time not worked as a result of any authorised absenteeism.

 

(15) Under no circumstances shall an employee be refused the opportunity to work overtime on the grounds of having been absent.