December time-off for staff

Dear colleagues

We are drawing to the close of a challenging year. Many of you have had to work under demanding and extremely taxing conditions. I cannot enumerate here all the additional pressures that many of you have shouldered as a result of the disruptions on campus. We appreciate every effort you have made, as a community and individually, to fulfil your responsibilities to the University of Cape Town and our students.

As a gesture of gratitude for all you have done (and continue to do), the executive has agreed that UCT will close for the three days of 28, 29 and 30 December 2016. This time will not be counted as leave but as a paid holiday. For most people, this will allow for a continuous break from 24 December 2016 to 2 January 2017 inclusive.

Special instances regarding leave are discussed below.

Compulsory leave
Any outstanding compulsory leave owed to PASS staff, which would normally have to be taken by 31 December 2016, will not be lost. These compulsory leave days will automatically be rolled over to 2017, when they must be taken. This was decided in order to cater for those people who had to either take leave or lose it, but were not able to do so due to the many pressing issues this year.

Critical services and skeleton staff
It is understood that these three paid leave days may have to be dealt with differently for academic staff and those colleagues who are required for critical services and skeleton staff coverage. In these instances, arrangements to take these three days as leave must be agreed with your respective line managers. Those who are required to work between Christmas and New Year will be able to take the three days of paid leave at a later stage. The Academics Union is consulting with academic staff at present to determine an equivalent period of leave for academic staff in recognition and appreciation.

Please think of these extra days of paid leave as a gesture of gratitude for your courage, energy, dedication and loyalty. It is my hope that this break will help relieve the stresses we have all experienced this year, and will enable you to return to UCT with more energy for 2017.

Sincerely,

Dr Max Price
Vice-Chancellor