How to apply | Annual leave | Study & research leave and contact leave | Sick leave | Maternity leave | Family responsibility leave | Paternity leave | Compassionate leave | Special leave

How to apply

A staff member who wishes to take:

1. Annual leave (the month of January is the standard annual leave period for academic staff) must apply to his/her Head of Department.
2. Study and research leave or contact leave must apply to his/her Head of Department, using application form HR141.
3. Special leave, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave or family responsibility leave must apply to his/her Head of Department using application form HR140.

Annual leave

1. Contracts of employment for academic staff provide that the month of January constitutes annual leave.
2. In a case where a member of staff is required to be at work in January (eg. in connection with admissions or registration or examinations or clinical responsibilities) he/she may take leave at a time to be arranged with:

1. his/her Head of Department.
2. if he/she is a Head of Department, his/her Dean.
3. if he/she is a Dean, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor nominated for this purpose by the Vice-Chancellor.

3. Leave not taken during the calendar year in which it falls is lost. It can not be accumulated or deferred.
4. Leave not taken during the calendar year in which it falls may be paid out on resignation.

Click here to view the Study & research leave and contact leave policy.

Sick leave

Permanent staff

Policy

• A staff member may be granted sick leave on full pay for a total of not more than 30 calendar days during the first year of service for a total of not more than 60 calendar days during the first two years of service, and for a total of not more than 90 calendar days during the first three years of service.
• A person who has completed at least three years of service may in each cycle of six years from the date of appointment be granted sick leave for a total of not more than 180 calendar days of which not more than 90 shall be on full pay and the remainder on half pay.
• In summary, a permanent staff member will earn 30 calendar days full pay sick leave per annum for the first 3 years of the 6 year cycle. They will earn 30 calendar days half pay sick leave per annum for years 4 to 6 of the 6 year cycle. In total this will be 90 calendar days full pay and 90 calendar days half pay over 6 years.

Procedure

• A staff member must produce a medical certificate in respect of any absence claimed as sick leave for periods of more than two days. At the discretion of the Head of Department, a medical certificate may be required for all periods of sick leave.
• A staff member who is absent from work owing to illness must immediately make every effort to inform his or her Head of Department or supervisor of the reason for the absence.
• On returning to work a staff member must report the sick leave taken on the leave application form (HR140), which is then passed (via his or her Head of Department or supervisor) to the Human Resources Department.

Temporary staff

Please refer to the policy on fixed term contract appointments.

Maternity leave

1. General entitlements

1. Staff members other than casual staff (ad hoc and paid on claim) are entitled to four months' maternity leave.
2. Maternity leave for staff members other than those on T1 fixed term contracts (i.e. temporary contracts of less than two years) is fully paid (i.e. full cost of employment).
3. Maternity leave for staff on T1 contracts will be unpaid.
4. Staff serving a period of probation will have their probationary period extended by a period equal to the maternity leave and, where applicable, to any period of unpaid leave which immediately follows the maternity leave.

2. Timing

1. A staff member may commence maternity leave

1. any time from four weeks before the expected date of birth, unless otherwise agreed between the staff member and her Head of Department.
2. on a date from which a medical practitioner or midwife certifies that it is necessary for the health of the staff member or her unborn child.

2. In compliance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, no staff member may work for six weeks after the birth of her child, unless a medical practitioner or midwife certifies that she is fit to do so.

3. Notice

The staff member must notify the University in writing, unless unable to do so, of the date on which she intends to

1. commence maternity leave and
2. return to work after maternity leave.
3. Such notification must be given

1. at least four weeks before the staff member intends to commence maternity leave, or
2. if it is not reasonably practicable to do so, as soon as is reasonably practicable.

4. Time off for visits to ante-natal clinics

1. Time off work will be granted for pregnant members of staff to visit routine ante-natal clinics once a month during the term of pregnancy, subject to

1. the submission of a medical certificate confirming pregnancy.
2. authorisation for such leave of absence being obtained 24 hours before such absence (where possible).
3. proof of attendance at the clinic being subsequently furnished by the staff member.

2. Any additional time off required for medical reasons must be taken as sick leave.

5. Miscarriage

1. A staff member who has a miscarriage during the third trimester of pregnancy or bears a still-born child is entitled to maternity leave for six weeks after the miscarriage or still-birth regardless of whether or not she had commenced maternity leave at the time.
2. Should the staff member require additional time off work for either medical or compassionate reasons, application can be made for sick leave or family responsibility leave.

6. Adoption

1. Where a staff member gives up her baby for adoption, maternity leave will end no more than six weeks after the birth of the child.
2. Where a staff member adopts a child, she may apply to the Executive Director, Human Resources for maternity leave. Each case is considered on its merits, and the amount of maternity leave granted depends on the circumstances of each case (to the maximum of four months).

7. Additional (unpaid) leave

1. Where requested, unpaid leave will be granted to members of staff proceeding on maternity leave, and to those who apply for such leave during the course of their maternity leave.
2. This leave is granted up until the child is six months old.
3. COE for the unpaid leave is zero (i.e. benefits and salary fall away), but the staff member may arrange to maintain one or more of her benefits at her own cost.

8. Flexible working hours

1. A staff member is entitled to request flexible working hours for up to six months after returning to work. While this may not be possible in all cases, the request will receive due consideration.
2. The minimum time a person is expected to work in a flexible capacity is four hours per day.
3. Payment will be on a pro-rata basis for the hours worked per month. (In other words, COE will be reduced in proportion to the reduction in working hours). A new COE schedule must be signed, indicating how the staff member wishes to structure her COE.

9. Return to work

   1. The University will make every effort to ensure that a staff member returning to work after a period of maternity leave returns to the post which she vacated. If this is not possible, management will consult with her and with the relevant staff body (if any) prior to finalising her redeployment.
   2. On her return to work, the staff member's COE will be at least at the same level as it had been when she went on maternity leave. If the COEs of other staff in her department have been reviewed during that period the Head of Department will review and, if appropriate, adjust her COE when she returns to work.

Family responsibility leave

See: Full family responsibility leave document

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is two-fold:

• to provide paid leave for staff requiring time away from work on compassionate grounds; and
• to provide paid paternity leave for fathers at the birth or adoption of a newly born child.

Application

Applicable to all staff employed by the university who are permanent and employed for more than four days per week.

Related legislation

Family responsibility leave is provided for in section 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997.

Background

Family responsibility leave replaces the leave categories previously known as compassionate and paternity leave.

Policy principles

The principle of this policy is to bring the university’s provision of family responsibility leave in line with the categories catered for under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, while retaining some provisions provided for under the compassionate leave previously provided.

Policy definitions

"Immediate Family" means a spouse, life partner, parent, adoptive parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, child, adoptive child, grandchild and sibling.

Family responsibility leave

1. It is acknowledged that similar emotional anguish to that of the death of a spouse or child may also result from the illness of a staff member’s immediate family.
2. Family responsibility leave may be granted where a member of the staff member's immediate family is ill, and in need of medical attention from a registered medical practitioner, or upon the death of member of the immediate family.
3. A total of five (5) working days' family responsibility leave per annum may be granted to a staff member on compassionate grounds, for reasons related to:

   1. a child taking ill;
   2. a spouse or life partner taking ill;
   3. the death of a member of staff member's immediate family

4. Family responsibility leave provided for in item 3 (a) and (b) above shall be granted subject to the staff member providing upon his/her return to work proof in the form of a medical certificate, of the use of this leave for the purposes of looking after an ill member of the immediate family. In the case of (c), the death of a member of staff member’s immediate family, leave shall be granted subject to the staff member providing upon his/her return to work proof in the form of a death certificate.
5. Family responsibility leave as provided for in item 3 above, can be taken from the total allocation of five (5) working days per annum referred to in item 3 above, as a block of consecutive days or in any other combination.
6. Heads of Departments and Line Managers must forward proof of the reasons for taking family responsibility leave to the Human Resources Department for purposes of data capturing.
7. If a staff member's need to look after a seriously ill member of his or her immediate family continues beyond the five days' family responsibility leave, he or she may apply to take annual leave or if necessary leave without pay. In the case of Professional Administrative and Support Services (PASS) staff, any leave taken in addition to the five days family responsibility leave will be deducted from the current annual leave credits or, in special circumstances approved by the Executive Director: Human Resources from leave due in the next cycle.
8. Note that as a consequence of this change to leave policy, compassionate leave falls away.

Paternity leave

See: Full family responsibility leave document

1. A staff member who is a permanent member of staff or who has more than two years of continuous service on one or more temporary fixed term contracts, and is the father of a newly born child (or has adopted a newly born child) may be granted paternity leave on full pay for a maximum period of five working days per annum, subject to the following conditions:

1. The staff member must notify his Line Manager of his intended paternity leave, at least two months before the expected birth or adoption;
2. If the staff member is not married to the mother of the child, he will be required to submit, in support of his application, a Registration of Birth Certificate in which he is recorded as the child’s father, upon his return from leave. Until such time as the Birth Certificate is submitted, the leave will be recorded as annual leave.
3. In the case of a legal adoption, the staff member must submit documentary proof of the adoption, and a written motivation in support of his application for paternity leave, for consideration by the Executive Director: Human Resources. In general, paternity leave is only granted at the time of the adoption of a young baby.
4. Applications for paternity leave must be submitted via Heads of Department to the Human Resources Department.
5. Should the staff member request an additional five working days of leave, either as part of his annual vacation leave or as unpaid leave, his request must be granted.

Compassionate leave

Special leave

Special leave may be granted to any category of staff under various circumstances. There are different kinds of special leave, to suit these varying circumstances.

There are three types of special leave:

• Special leave with pay
• Special leave without pay but with rights
• Special leave without pay and without rights

1. Special leave with pay

This is granted when the staff member is to be away from UCT on University business, for example when attending a conference or undertaking field work for periods of up to 15 working days. In the case of academic staff, contact leave is taken for periods in excess of 15 working days. In rare cases, motivations for requesting special leave with pay for continuous periods in excess of 15 working days will require the approval of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor responsible for academic staff or Executive Director: Human Resources for PASS staff.

The staff member continues to be paid his/her normal salary and to enjoy his/her normal staff benefits. Leave accrues during special leave with pay.

2. Special leave without pay but with rights

This is granted when the staff member is to be away from UCT on business that is not UCT business but is related to his/her discipline or profession, for example this would be granted to a staff member taking up a short term appointment at another university, after which he/she would return to his/her normal duties at UCT.

1. The staff member is not paid during this period.
2. Membership of the UCT Retirement Fund, the Associated Institutions Pension Fund or a provident fund continues for this period. The University meets only part of its normal contribution (of up to 22.5% of the employee's retirement-funding income), but the staff member must make prior arrangements to meet any contributions to the fund as may be required to provide for full benefits. Details can be obtained from the retirement office.
3. Group Life cover continues for this period, as part of the 22.5% mentioned above. Where the staff member has optional multiple cover he/she must make prior arrangements to meet his/her contributions.
4. The staff member is required to retain medical aid cover during this period and he/she must make prior arrangements to meet the full cost of this cover.
5. No leave of any kind accrues during this period.

3. Special leave without pay and without rights

This may be granted when the staff member is to be away from UCT on private business

1. The staff member is not paid during this period.
2. Members of the UCTRF during absence:

   • Must contribute 6.5% (risk cover) or;
   • May contribute 22.5% (risk cover and retirement funding)

   While on leave without pay without rights, a member will have to make the necessary arrangements to meet the cost of his/her choice above.

3. Where the period of leave is 120 days or less, members of the Associated Institutions Pension Fund must retain their membership and the University will pay its contributions. Members of the UCT Retirement Fund may elect to make retirement funding contributions during such periods entirely at their own cost, however, staff are obliged, whatever they elect to do, to pay the full cost of risk and death benefits.
4. Group Life cover continues for the period, but entirely at the cost of the staff member. In the case of UCTRF members the Group Life cost is part of the full cost of risk and death benefits.
5. The staff member is required to retain medical aid cover and must make prior arrangements to meet the full cost of this cover.
6. No leave of any kind accrues during this period.

Participation in sporting events

Staff wishing to be absent from the University in order to participate in sport, whether at international or other level, must use their annual leave in the first instance and thereafter apply for special leave. All categories of sport are considered and each application is considered on its merits. Paid special leave may be granted when staff participate in international sporting events, but staff who take part in sport at provincial or lower levels are normally required to make use of their annual leave.

Authorities

Leave application forms must be completed for all special leave and, once authorised, submitted to the HR Administration, HR Department

Academic staff
Up to and including 5 working days : HoD (Dean for HoDs & DVC for Deans)
6 - 15 working days : HoD recommends to Dean
More than 15 working days : HoD and Dean recommend to executive office (DVC)

Administrative and support staff
Up to and including 15 working days : Dean or Executive Director
More than 15 working days : HoD recommends to Executive Director, HR

Page last updated: 11 August 2011

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