Cape Town - The Public Servants Association (PSA) together with Department of Correctional Services (DCS) centre-based support staff, celebrated victory as they will not have to apply for leave on public holidays, following a recent labour court judgment.
According to court documents, 23 DCS administrative staff situated at Modderbee Management Area in Benoni, won an arbitration award where the commissioner ruled that staff would not have to fill out leave application forms for public holidays. DCS disputed this and brought the matter before the labour court for review.
The PSA challenged the move citing unfair labour practice.
In their evidence before the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), the employees testified that they fell within the category of employees that work a 45-hour work-week, but they worked only from Mondays to Fridays, from 6am to 4pm.
Furthermore, part of their duties was to provide support services to the Centre – which duties were performed from 7am to 4pm on weekdays (excluding public holidays).
Ultimately the court found: “In terms of the above directive, seven-day shift workers must apply for leave should their shift fall on a public holiday. However, the directive does not make provision for the special category of employees known as the centre-based support staff who can neither be rostered to work on public holidays or weekends nor work on those days, as the management staff whom they serve and, therefore, the work provided to them is not available on those days.
Therefore, the applicant is not able to or has not provided any work for the individual third respondents to do on these days."
“When the centre-based support staff function was created, it was clearly the intention that these employees would not have to apply for leave on public holidays as it is objectively impossible for them to perform their intended functions on such days as the offices are closed," the judgement read.
In a statement, the union said: “Engagement with the DCS failed to yield results as the DCS was adamant that these employees should take annual leave on public holidays. Owing to the lack of progress to resolve the matter, the PSA declared a dispute.”
The DCS did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
Cape Times