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Post Info TOPIC: "clear" calendar month notice?
Anonymous

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"clear" calendar month notice?
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i need advise on "clear calendar month notice" in employment contract.
 
i was not explained what this is at the time of signing the contract, it was standard contract being 4 weeks notice/month.
 
I have reviewed the labour act and found the following pertaining to the notice period for employees and interpretation of a month, nothing regarding  a clear calendar month reflects. 
 
What is a calendar month?

This is another area of mass confusion between the employer and employee. The contract of employment clearly states that an employee must give a calendar months’ notice, the employee therefore tenders his resignation on the 15th of the month arguing that a calendar months could be from the 15th of one month to the 15th of the following month and doesn’t necessarily have to be from the 1st to the 31st of a month. In his book, Interpretation of Statutes (Juta & Co. Ltd, first edition), Professor G.E. Devenish describes a calendar month as;

“A calendar month is a month according to the almanac or common calendar. A calendar month is therefore not a fixed number of days but varies according to the Actual month concerned. A calendar month need not necessarily run from the beginning of a month. In ascertaining a certain number of calendar months the civil method of computation is used: the first day of the period is included and the last day excluded. However the application of this definition is ambiguous. The term “calendar month” may be interpreted in two ways: either as a month as it appears on the calendar, (1 January until 31 January) or a month reckoned in terms of one day in a particular month until the corresponding day of the next month; thus for example, from the fourth day of March until the fourth day of April. Both possibilities arise in practice.”

From the above it is clear that both the employer and employee could be correct in their interpretation of a calendar month and we therefore recommend that employers indicate in contracts of employment that notice must be given between the 1stand the 3rdof a month in order to ensure that employees serve a complete month as notice

 
i have to submit my resignation and the company is saying i must only submit the 1st April and work till 1 may?
but i need to submit today and leave 20 April this is 4 weeks as is required by law?
 
what can i do as i need to submit today 20/3 and leave 20/4.
this would be 4 weeks notice as required by the act and a month notice. 20th - 20th
 
 
 


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Labour Protect

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Good day, 

In this situation a calendar month is either 4 weeks (ordinary days (7 days a week) or from the 1st of the month to the 1st of the new month.

If you submit your resignation on the 2nd of March you will only have to work until the 2nd of April. Remember the employer cannot dictate to you when you choose to resign as this is your choice. If the contract is silent on the issue of what a calendar month is then they cannot dispute the fact that you served 4 weeks notice. 

It is very rare for an employer to sue their employees for not having worked their notice period. litigation is very time consuming as well as costly. The employer in most cases cannot afford to chase after an employee who does not want to be employed.  

 

Kind regards

LP



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