If an employee is supposed to work on a public holiday, but validly calls in sick, at what rate is an employer supposed to pay him/her (the public holiday rate or sick leave rate)? Should sick leave be deducted?
Section 22(5) of the BCEA requires an employer to pay an employee for a day’s sick leave, the wage the employee would ordinarily have received on that day. This is the ordinary wage, meaning basic salary and not any of the premium payments e.g. Sunday or Public Holiday pay.
In addition, where this applies to the hospitality sector (and providing further guidance), S18(2)(a) of the Hospitality Industry Sectoral Determination (which supersedes the BCEA) states that if a public holiday falls on a day on which an employee would ordinarily work and they do not work on that day, the employee should be paid “at least the wage that the employee would ordinarily have received for work on that day”.
From the above, an employee is entitled to receive the equivalent of one day’s wage on the basis that the employee has not worked (either because of sick or annual leave) on a public holiday and the employee’s payslip should reflect that the employee is being paid for the public holiday at a rate of 1 day. This is supported by S19(2) of the Hospitality Industry Sectoral Determination as it states that an employer “must grant an employee an additional day of paid leave if a public holiday falls on the day of an employee’s annual leave on which the employee would otherwise have worked.”
In conclusion, if an employee takes Sick or Annual leave on a public holiday, their balances or available leave days are not to be reduced and they are to be paid at a rate of 1 ordinary day with the public holiday being the reason. So they would only ever get a day’s wages calculated on ordinary time.