Interpretation: Labour Appeal Court confirms interpretation of Public Holidays

Case No. JA 29 / 06
Judgment Date 15 November 2007
Jurisdiction Labour Appeal Court, Johannesburg
Judge Zondo, Judge President; Willis and Waglay Judges of Appeal
Subject Interpretation of statutes Public Holidays
Issues:
When a public holiday fell on a Sunday, it does not cease to be a public holiday. The next Monday becomes an additional public holiday.
Summary of Facts:
The Employer, a mining company, had entered into a "continuous operation agreement" with the union. In terms of the agreement, production at certain shafts would be continuous for seven days a week on all days of the year excluding public holidays. On public holidays, unlike any other day of the year, production stopped and all affected employees were entitled to a day's paid leave. Sundays were treated as normal working days. One of the public holidays in 2005 (1 May) fell on a Sunday. The union contended that the Sunday would have to be treated as a public holiday, as would the next day. It argued that workers who would ordinarily have worked on Sunday, 1 May 2005, were not obliged to do so but were entitled to be paid for that day. In addition, the union contended that workers were entitled to be paid for the following Monday as well, without having to work. The employer contended that those employees were obliged to work on Sunday, 1 May, but not on Monday, 2 May 2005. The court ruled in favour of the union and this appeal resulted.
Summary of Judgement:
The court referred to the status of Sundays. Sundays are treated by the act and the economy as special days which transcend religious observance; the fact that the origin of the special status of Sundays arose from Christian religious observance is largely irrelevant. In effect, in the absence of an agreement that a Sunday will be a normal working day, Sundays are treated as "public holidays'. The Act does not, either expressly or impliedly, state that where a public holiday falls on a Sunday, that both the Sunday and the following Monday shall be public holidays. The court held that the ordinary, literal, grammatical meaning favoured the contention of the union. The only public holidays which are "day related' rather than "date related' are Easter Friday and Monday. Other public holiday are determined by the date on which the event is commemorated and the day of the week on which it falls is irrelevant. It held further that the intention of the Legislator was that there should be at least 12 public holidays in each year and finally that the agreement followed the provisions of the act. As a result, the court ruled in favour of the union, but ordered that each party should pay its own costs.
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