1. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED), through its regular engagements with organised labour, has noted an increase in the number of complaints received pertaining to the utilisation of public service employees at educational institutions and the non-granting of certain conditions of service during and after normal working hours.

2. In order to ensure uniformity in the granting of conditions of service to public service employees at educational institutions during and after working hours, it was deemed necessary to clarify a number of policy matters in this minute.

3. All public service employees are appointed in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994. The Public Service Act provides for the organisation and administration of the public service, the regulation of the conditions of employment, terms of office, discipline, retirement and discharge of members of the public service and related matters. The Public Service Regulations, 2001, as amended, and read in conjunction with the aforesaid Act, apply

  1. to all persons employed, and to institutions governed, in terms of the Act; and
  2. subject to the provisions of the Act, to persons employed in the services, the agency or state educational institutions, only so far as they are not contrary to the laws governing their employment.
4. The following is a summary of the relevant directives on conditions of service that apply to public service employees at educational institutions.
4.1 Working hours
4.1.1 In accordance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1998, an employer may not require or permit an employee to work more than -

  1. 45 hours in any week;
  2. nine hours in any day if the employee works for five days or fewer in a week; or
  3. eight hours in any day if the employee works for more than five days in a week.
4.1.2 An employee's ordinary hours of work may by agreement be extended with up to 15 minutes per day, but not more than 60 minutes per week, to enable an employee whose duties include serving members of the public to continue performing those duties after the completion of ordinary working hours.
4.1.3 In the event that it is required of a public service employee at an educational institution to render services after normal working hours, the determination of working time in the public service shall apply. This determination of working time must be read and applied in conjunction with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1998, the current Public Service Regulations, 2001, prevailing collective agreements, as well as provincial and departmental policies on working time.
4.1.4 All public service employees are appointed on a 40 hour work week. Therefore all public service employees at educational institutions should be at school for the prescribed 40 official working hours per week. Public service support staff can, for example, start earlier and leave at the same time as the normal school hours i.e. start at 07H00 and leave at 15H30 of which 30 minutes is provided for a lunch break.
4.2 Working time and compensation
4.2.1 The Determination and Directive on working time in the Public Service, made by the Minister for Public Service and Administration, is attached as an Annexure.
4.2.2 Your attention is also drawn to the Human Resource Notice dated 24 May 2012 with regards to the regulations relating to the prohibition of the payment of unauthorised remuneration or the giving of financial benefit or benefit in kind to certain state employees. The procedures to follow by School Governing Bodies for the authorisation for paying an employee for additional work done on instruction of the governing body are also explained in the notice.
4.2.3 A submission, in which prior approval for remuneration and/or time-off is requested for overtime work, must be written and it must include a motivation so that an informed decision can be taken. The following information must be included in applications for approval of compensation for overtime work:

  1. Why the task(s) cannot be performed by temporarily re-allocating functions
  2. Why other measures to avoid overtime work cannot be implemented;
  3. The period during which the overtime work is to be performed;
  4. The estimated cost of the performance of overtime work;
  5. The supervision that will be in place when the overtime work is performed;
  6. The control measures, such as a record of the nature and duration of the overtime work performed and an attendance register, that will be implemented; and
  7. Names, Persal numbers and ranks of employees who will be performing the overtime work.

After the completion of the overtime, the supervisor must certify that the purpose of the overtime has been completed and those claims in respect of overtime duty performed must be submitted immediately after the period for which the overtime remuneration was approved has expired.
4.3 Private functions
4.3.1 In terms of section 20 (2) of the South African Schools Act, 1996, "The governing body may allow the reasonable use of the facilities of the school for community, social and school fund-raising purposes, subject to such reasonable and equitable conditions, as the governing body may determine, which may include the charging of a fee or tariff which accrues to the school".
4.3.2 A number of complaints have been received from public service support staff that it is expected of them to avail themselves after hours, during weekends or public holidays when private functions are held.
4.3.3 The Department wishes to clarify certain principles on the utilisation of public service support staff when private functions are held:

  1. Public service support staff are appointed in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994, and therefore all conditions of service and conditions that apply in terms of their employ to the State should be complied with and adhered to by school governing bodies.
  2. The Determination and Directive on working time in the Public Service, made by the Minister for Public Service and Administration, must be applied to compensate support staff that voluntarily perform overtime duty at the request of school governing bodies or principals.
4.4 Remunerative work conducted outside the public service
4.4.1 Sections 30 and 31 of the Public Service Act, 1994, as amended; and Chapter 2, of the Public Service Regulations, 2001, inform all employees of their obligation to apply for permission from the Head of Department if they wish to perform remunerative work outside the public service.
4.4.2 The Western Cape Government's Transversal Human Resource Management Policy regulates the performance of remunerative work by WCED employees outside the public service. This policy has been amended, and the revised policy was implemented as from 1 September 2012. The policy is attached and is also available at www.westerncape.gov.za
4.4.3 Furthermore, attention is drawn to Human Resource Management Minute: 0010/2013 and Strategic People Management Minute: 0002/2014 regarding the performance of remunerative work by WCED employees outside the public service.
4.5 Leave for non-teaching staff at schools, training institutions and hostels
4.5.1 The Determination and Directive on Leave of Absence in the Public Service (August 2012) is attached. This directive addresses normal leave, sick leave as well as time-off.
4.5.2 Part 6 of the Determination and Directive on Leave of Absence in the Public Service, that deals with leave for non-teaching staff at schools and training institutions, is of interest and should be brought to the attention of all support staff.
4.6 Utilisation of public service staff at schools
4.6.1 A number of complaints have been received in respect of the utilisation of public service employees at educational institutions for duties other than what they have been appointed for. In accordance with Part III, I.1 of the Public Service Regulations, 2001, the Department must establish job descriptions and job titles for each post and/or group of posts and these must be regularly reviewed. The following must apply in a job description:

  • indicate the requirements of the job;
  • indicate the areas of responsibility of the job; and
  • the job description must describe the job and not the expected performance.
4.6.2 Based on the enquiries received from various unions representing public service employees, it is evident that certain public service support staff at educational institutions are being utilised and instructed to do work other than what is stated in the job descriptions for the posts they have been appointed for. Generic job descriptions were developed in respect of public service staff at educational institutions and hostels. Please refer to Circular 0033/2004 in respect of the following public service posts:

  • General assistant;
  • Foreman;
  • Administrative clerk;
  • Senior housekeeping supervisor;
  • Housekeeping supervisor; and
  • Household aid.
4.7 Transportation between residence and work
4.7.1 In accordance with the Provincial Directive on Transport, the onus is on an employee to take responsibility for her/his transport between residence and work and the cost thereof. However, unions have reported to the Department that in certain instances employees who are required to render services after hours are not compensated for such travel costs. The WCED wishes to advise principals and school governing bodies that whilst there are no prescripts or policies that force an employer to compensate an employee for any transport costs, consideration should be given to cover the actual expenditure of staff that obtain approval to render services outside normal working hours.

5. It is trusted that all school governing bodies and principals will take cognisance of the conditions of service that should apply to public service support staff at educational institutions and adhere to the prescripts and requirements as outlined in this minute.


SIGNED: PA VINJEVOLD
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2015:02:25

Public Service Act, 1994  (size: 183 KB)
South African Schools Act, 1996  (size: 255 KB)
Determination and Directive on working time in the public service  (size: 77 KB)
Policy framework on remunerative work outside employment in the public service  (size: 29 KB)
Determination and directive on leave of absence in the public service  (size: 253 KB)