Key Benefits:
(1) Every employee shall be granted by the employer in every period of seven consecutive days a rest period comprising at least 24 consecutive hours, which period shall ordinarily be or include a Sunday:
Provided that, where the employee is engaged on shift work, he shall be granted a rest period comprising any period of 30 consecutive hours.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Commissioner may, in writing or orally, exempt any employer from the provisions of that subsection, for such period and subject to such conditions as he may think fit and as are reasonable, having regard to the welfare of the employees concerned, in the particular circumstances.
(3) Where the rest periods of an employee are or include days other than a Sunday, the employer shall prepare or cause to be prepared a roster in respect of every month specifying the employee's rest periods within that month and shall display the roster in a conspicuous place readily accessible to the employee not less than seven days immediately before the commencement of the month in question.
(4) Any employer who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalties prescribed by section 151(b).
94. Payment for work during rest period
Any employee who works during a rest period, either by agreement with the employer or on being required to do so under section 95, shall be paid at least double the wages he would have been paid had the period been an ordinary working period, or at his option be granted a day or days off, as the case may be, in lieu thereof.
(1) Except as hereinafter provided, an employee shall not be required under his contract of employment to work-
(a) more than five consecutive hours without a period of rest which shall not be less than 30 minutes; or
(b) more than an ordinary working period of eight hours in any one day or more than 48 hours in any one week:
Provided that-
(i) an employee engaged in work which by reason of its nature requires to be carried on continuously may be required to work for eight consecutive hours if those hours include a period or periods of rest of not less than 45 minutes in the aggregate during which period or one of which periods he shall be provided with the opportunity to have a meal; and
(ii) where the working week is one of five days, the hours of work in each day may be increased to nine; but these hours shall be interrupted by a period or periods of rest of not less than one hour in the aggregate during which period or one of which periods the employee shall be provided with the opportunity to have a meal.
(2) An employee may be required by his employer to exceed the limit of hours prescribed by subsection (1) or to work during a rest period prescribed by section 93 in the case of-
(a) an accident, actual or threatened;
(b) work, the performance of which is essential to the life of the community;
(c) work essential for national defence or security;
(d) urgent work to be done to machinery or plant;
(e) an interruption of work which it was not reasonably possible to foresee; or
(f) work to be performed by employees in any industrial undertaking considered by the Minister to be vital to the economy of Botswana or in any service declared by the Minister, by order published in the Gazette, to be an essential service for the purposes of this Part:
Provided that where an employee is required to work during a rest period, he shall be granted a similar rest period in substitution therefor, before the next following rest period is due.
(3) An employee engaged in work which by reason of its nature requires to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts may be required by his employer to work during a rest period prescribed by section 93; and, where the Commissioner rules that any work does not by reason of its nature require to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts, such work shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, not to be of such a nature.
(4) If an employee works, on being required to do so under paragraph (i) of the proviso to subsection (1), for eight consecutive hours, the period or periods of rest of not less than 45 minutes in the aggregate therein prescribed shall count as working time and be paid accordingly.
(5) If an employee is required to work in any one day more than the number of hours in the ordinary daily working period, the number of hours so worked in excess shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be overtime, and the employee shall be paid for such overtime one and a half times the wages he would have been paid had the time worked not been overtime.
(6) Notwithstanding subsection (5), where a contract of employment provides for the payment of wages without reference to the number of hours worked by the employee and further provides that he may be required to work overtime in exceptional circumstances and he is on occasion so required to work, he shall not be entitled to be paid for the overtime unless the contract of employment otherwise provides.
(7) An employee shall not be required or permitted to work overtime for more than 14 hours in any one week:
Provided that the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, declare that this subsection shall not apply to employees in such industry or undertaking as shall be specified therein.
(8) For the purpose of calculating the daily rate of payment and/or benefits due for overtime to an employee employed on a monthly rate of pay the following divisors shall be applied-
22 in respect of a 5 day working week;
24 in respect of a 5 1/2 day working week;
26 in respect of a 6 day working week:
Provided that the Minister may, by regulations, prescribe different methods of calculation in respect of any particular specified circumstances.
(9) The Minister may make regulations for calculating the payments due to an employee for overtime in any particular circumstances.
(10) Except where an employee is required to work under subsection (2) or in exceptional circumstances not covered by that subsection, no employee shall work for more than 12 hours in any one day.
(11) The Minister may prescribe the maximum number of hours which may be worked as overtime over any given period.
(12) Notwithstanding subsection (7), where the Commissioner is of the opinion that circumstances exist which justify an employee being required or permitted to work overtime for more than 14 hours in any one week, he may, in writing or orally, authorize the employer to require or permit the employee to work overtime for such greater number of hours in any one day as the Commissioner shall specify, for such period and subject to such conditions as he may think fit.
(13) Where the Commissioner is of the opinion that exceptional circumstances exist which are not covered by subsection (2) but are, nevertheless, such as to justify an employee being required by his employer to exceed for a limited period the limit of hours prescribed by subsection (1) or to work during a rest period prescribed by section 93, he may, in writing or orally, authorize the employer to require the employee to exceed such limit or to work during such rest period, subject to such conditions as the Commissioner may think fit.
(14) Where, by virtue of his employer having been authorized under subsection (13), an employee is required to exceed the limit of hours prescribed by subsection (1) or to work during a rest period prescribed by section 93, the employee shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be required to do so under subsection (2) and the proviso thereto shall apply in respect of any rest period or part thereof forfeited in consequence of the requirement.
Nothing in this Part shall prevent any employer from agreeing with any employee that the wages of the employee shall be paid at an agreed rate in accordance with the task, that is, the specific amount of work required to be performed, and not by the day or by the piece.
(1) Notwithstanding section 95(1) , an employee engaged under his contract of employment in regular shift work may be required by his employer to work more than five consecutive hours without a period of rest, more than eight hours in any one day or more than 48 hours in any one week; but the average number of hours worked over any period of four weeks shall not exceed 48 per week.
(2) Section 95(5) shall not apply to any employee engaged under his contract of employment in regular shift work; but any such employee who works for his employer for more than an average of 48 hours per week over any period of three weeks shall be paid in accordance therewith in respect of those hours worked in excess of the average of 48 hours per week.
(3) Where there is any contravention of this section, the employer shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalties prescribed by section 151(c).
(1) Nothing in this section shall affect any law, award, custom or agreement between the parties to a contract of employment providing for leave with pay no less favourable to the employee than that for which this section makes provision.
(2) Every employer shall grant to every employee employed by him leave with basic pay at the rate of not less than 1,25 days per month.
(3) Of the 15 working days' leave earned in respect of any period of 12 months not less than eight working days shall be taken no later than six months immediately after the end of the period in respect of which the leave was earned.
(4) Any balance of leave not taken in accordance with subsection (3) may be accumulated, year by year; but such leave shall not be accumulated for longer than three years immediately after the end of the period in respect of which leave was first accumulated, and at the end of that three years' period all the accumulated leave together with all the leave earned in respect of the immediately preceding period of 12 months shall be taken.
(5) The leave for which this section makes provision shall be in addition to any public holiday or weekly rest period in respect of which, by agreement or custom, the employee is not required to work under his contract of employment and any period during which the employee is absent from work owing to illness.
(6) Where a contract of employment is terminated by either party to the contract, the employer shall pay to the employee his basic pay-
(a) in respect of any period of leave accumulated under subsection (4) or which has otherwise accrued to him but has not been granted before the termination of the contract of employment; and
(b) at the rate of 1,25 days in respect of every month or part of a month of continuous employment after he last became entitled to leave under subsection (2).
(7) All days between days on which contracts of employment are in force between the same parties shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsections (2) and (6)(b), to be part of the employee's continuous employment:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply where the number of such days exceeds in the aggregate 12 in any one month.
(8) The basic pay payable in respect of any period of leave for which this section makes provision, whether accumulated or otherwise, or in accordance with subsection (6)(b) shall be the current basic pay.
(9) Any employer who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalties prescribed by section 151(b).
(1) Each of the public holidays specified in the Second Schedule shall be a paid public holiday for the purposes of this section:
Provided that, within the mining industry alone, paid public holidays for the purposes of this section shall be those public holidays customarily recognized by the industry as paid public holidays.
(2) Where a paid public holiday falls on a rest day the day next following the rest day which is not itself a rest day shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be a paid public holiday.
(3) Any employee who works on a paid public holiday or on a day observed as a public holiday by virtue of the provisions of subsection (2) shall-
(a) be paid at least double the wages he would have been paid had the day been an ordinary working day; or
(b) be granted a paid day off in lieu of that day within 10 days immediately thereafter.
(4) Subject to subsection (3), the employer shall pay to the employee his basic pay in respect of every paid public holiday.
(5) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, amend the Second Schedule.
(6) Any employer who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalties prescribed by section 151(b).
(1) Any employee shall,after medical examination at the expense of the employer by a medical officer nominated by the employer, or after medical examination at the expense of the employee, be entitled to such sick leave as the medical officer concerned recommends, and shall be entitled to be paid his basic pay for at least 20 working days of such sick leave in any one year of continuous employment.
(2) Any employee who absents himself from his place of employment on the grounds of sickness shall-
(a) inform his employer of his absence as soon as it is reasonably practicable to do so; and
(b) where he is absent from his place of employment for 24 hours or more, provide his employer, upon his return to his place of employment, with a certificate signed by a medical officer or with other evidence to the employer's satisfaction accounting for the entire period of absence.
(3) The employer shall pay to the employee his current basic pay for every day of paid sick leave granted under this section.
(4) Any employer who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalties prescribed by section 151(b).
