As a follow up to my update in December 2011, one of the major changes that the Labour Amendment Act No 3 of 2011, (effective May 1, 2011) effected was the payment for public and bank holidays and that for Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday. I have been waiting to see if the Labour Department would have reversed this modification to the principal Labour Act but to date this has not been done and it is perhaps time for Employers to make the necessary changes to their payroll.

The changes are:

Assuming the employee is at work on a public and bank holiday, under the ( Amendment Act), 2011, all work done on public holidays shall now be paid at the rate of one and a half times the employee ordinary rate, in total. That is, you get your regular day’s pay plus half your ordinary day’s wage.

Assuming the employee is at work, all work done on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday shall now be paid at double the employee ordinary rate of pay, in total. That is, you get your regular day’s pay plus one time your regular day’s wage.

To effect this change to their payroll, employers should provide employees with a written notice of the aforementioned amendment. Best practice would be to give at least two weeks to a month’s notice to employees. I have a sample text that can be used to provide notice to employee and do let me know if you need me to forward you a copy.

Do let me know you have any queries.

Regards,

Wilfred Rhaburn, CPA

that reminds me...vacation pay is due