STANDING ORDER (GENERAL) 164 PART II PERSONNEL AFFAIRS LEAVE SICK LEAVE 164. (1) (a) When a member is off duty on sick report or on sick leave, the period of absence must be covered by a leave form (SAP 26) and in every case where the provisions of Regulation 51(3) apply, a medical certificate must be submitted. It is not essential to use the medical certificate on form SAP 26. A certificate which conforms to the following requirements shall be pasted or stapled to form SAP 26: (iv) (v) (vi) The name and address of the medical practitioner/dentist Number, rank and name of the member The nature of the illness/disease/injury The period of the indisposition, mentioning the dates The signature of the medical practitioner/dentist The date on which the certificate was given. When a medical certificate cannot be obtained, owing to the distance of a station from a registered medical practitioner, or any other inevitability, sick leave may, in terms of the provisions of Regulation 51(3)(c) be granted on a certificate by a member who is acquainted with the facts. An application for sick leave, not supported by a medical certificate, is as a rule refused if a registered medical practitioner, who could have been reached, was not consulted. When a member is granted sick leave without a medical certificate for a period of three days or less, in terms of Regulation 51(3)(d), and a rest day or rest days follow immediately thereafter; the member considers himself fit for duty on a rest day; and resumes duty immediately after a rest day or rest days; he shall, in terms of Standing Order 77, utilise a rest day or rest days only if he had informed his commander timeously, i.e. on the day prior to the commencement of the rest day(s) concerned, that he was fit for duty on the rest day. Alternatively, the member can accordingly inform the relative Enquiry or Charge Office, in which case the member receiving the message shall make a suitable
SO 164-2 entry in the Occurrence Book to enable the Commander, should he be required for duty, to place such a member on duty on his rest day. It is not essential that the member be required to perform duty. He only has to be fit for duty in order to utilise the rest day(s). Should he fail to notify his Commander, the rest day(s) must be included in the period of absent and, if the period exceeds three days, a medical certificate shall be submitted. NB: The provisions of Standing Order 77 are applicable when a medical certificate is submitted. (c) (d) A Commander may at his discretion require that a certificate, in terms of paragraph (1)(a), be submitted in respect of periods of three days or less. The Sick Book (SAP 79) shall, for control purposes, be dealt with as set out in Standing Order 167. The nature of the illness is not entered in the Sick Book but an entry "No Medical Certificate" will suffice. (2) Although the application for sick leave is in duplicate, a sheet of foolscap paper and not a form SAP 26 is to be used for the carbon copy. The Sick Book serial number shall be reflected on the copy. Both copies shall be forwarded to the Commanding Officer (or Divisional Commissioner) and column 7 of the Sick Book completed without delay to this effect by the Commander. (3) On receipt of the application and the copy, the Commanding Officer (or Divisional Commissioner) shall (a) collate the original, the copy and the entry in the Leave Record and verify the period of absence and the nature of the sick leave granted, e.g. with full pay, at half-pay; initial and date the entry in the Leave Record, as required by Standing Order 162(9); (c) check and initial the entry in form SAP 28; (d) sign, date and return the carbon copy to the Commander. (4) (a) The signed copy, referred to in paragraph (3)(d), serves as a receipt for the original Application for Leave and shall be filed by the Commander in numerical sequence, according to the Sick Book entries, and bound annually. Receipts, in respect of the Sick Books of the various units, shall be filed separately.
SO 164-3 The provisions of paragraphs (2), (3) and (4)(a) apply in respect of the forms SAP 26 of civil employees. (5) (a) Before granting sick leave to a member on the grounds of an illdefined illness, such as insomnia, a nervous complaint or general debility, the Commanding Officer (or Divisional Commissioner) shall refer a case such as this, together with the relative application, to Head Office for a ruling as to whether the leave should be recorded as sick leave or ordinary vacation leave. The Commanding Officer (or Divisional Commissioner) shall, in a case such as this, obtain a detailed Clinical Report on the condition of the member and the possible cause of his indisposition, from a registered medical practitioner, and submit it together with the documents mentioned in subparagraph (a). The Commanding Officer (or Divisional Commissioner) shall further state whether, in his opinion, the member's state of health - incapacitates him for duty; has not arisen from his failure to avail himself of vacation leave; and can be attributed to any specific cause. (c) Should the registered medical practitioner recommend it, the member concerned must be allowed to proceed on leave immediately, irrespective of whether the period of absence is ultimately to be treated as vacation leave or as sick leave. (6) When a member is discharged from 1 Military Hospital, Voortrekkerhoogte, the officer in charge of the hospital will cause the medical certificate on form SAP 26 to be completed in respect of - (a) the period of sick leave spent in the hospital; and any further period recommended as sick leave, which shall take effect on the date of discharge and not the following day. (7) The term "light duty" is not recognised. Should a recommendation be made that a member be placed on "light duty" and arrangements cannot be made to employ him suitably, the only alternative is to keep him on sick leave until he is fit to resume duty in full, or to convene a Medical Board. (8) (a) The sick leave of every member is regulated by the same sick leave cycle which commenced on a fixed date, i.e. on 1 January 1959, and which begins a new cycle every third anniversary. A member appointed or taken into employ after the commencement
SO 164-4 of a cycle may be granted the full sick leave provision of the cycle, provided the other provisions of the leave regulations and Standing Orders have been complied with. This means, inter alia, that all the sum total of the sick leave provisions become available to a member on the completion of 30 day's service. Attention is drawn to the fact that approved sick leave without pay is regarded as service for the purpose of determining the period of 30 days stipulated by Regulation 50(1). Example: A member who is appointed on 1 March is absent from duty for the period 10 March to 15 April because of an illness, qualifies for sick leave with full pay from 31 March. (9) (a) The purpose of additional sick leave with full pay, in terms of Regulation 50(4) is to provide a member who, on account of prolonged illness, has exhausted the ordinary sick leave with full pay, with an additional sick leave provision in order to prevent him being subjected to unnecessary prevation. To a member who has completed at least 10 years' continues service and who, on account of prolonged illness, has exhausted the sick leave with full pay due to him in terms of Regulation 45(1), may be granted additional sick leave with full pay equivalent to his ordinary sick leave provision with full pay, on the conditions as set out below: The provisions of Regulation 51 apply mutatis mutandis to the additional sick leave with full pay. It is emphasised that during the whole of a member's period of service, after the completion of 10 years' service, no more than the total additional sick leave with full pay as indicated in subparagraph may be granted. In other words, this paragraph should not be interpreted to mean that the full number of days, referred to in subparagraph would be allotted during each cycle. On the other hand this concession should not be interpreted as meaning that, if it is not fully used, the additional sick leave with full pay will lapse at the end of a cycle. The balance of additional sick leave, to the credit of the member concerned, is carried over to the ensuing or later cycles. Previous periods of service acknowledged as service for leave grouping purposes shall also be acknowledged as
SO 164-5 service for the purpose of calculating the first 10 years service. (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) The previous service of a member who is now serving for a second period, is not brought into account. The additional sick leave with full pay shall be granted to a member as soon as all his sick leave with full pay has been exhausted and before he is granted any ordinary sick leave with half pay. The granting of the additional sick leave with full pay to a member does not prevent the granting of sick leave with half pay in terms of Regulation 50(5) to him, during the same cycle. If a member is granted additional sick leave with full pay, it must be recorded in the leave register that leave has been granted in terms of the provisions of this paragraph. (c) The basis on which additional sick leave is granted differs essentially from those previously in force and, under the circumstance, it is necessary to protect the position of a serving member to whom such leave had been granted in terms of the pre-revised basis, before 1 March 1984. With a view to this, additional sick leave with full pay may be granted to such a member who, at any time on or after 1 March 1984 qualified in terms of the revised measures for the granting of additional sick leave and who applies therefore, but this will, however, be limited to the number of days equal to the difference between the provision of his ordinary sick leave with full pay and the number of days additional sick leave which he had been granted in terms of the pre-revised measures before 1 March 1984. Members who have completed 21 years' service before 1 March 1984, and who had made use of additional sick leave under the old dispensation, can, therefore, make use of further additional sick leave. The number of days to which they are entitled, is calculated by subtracting the number of days already taken before 1 March 1984 from 120 days. (d) Applications for additional sick leave may be approved by Commanding Officers. (10) In order to avoid possible overpayments and surcharges, as soon as a
SO 164-6 member who is absent from duty through ill-health, has exhausted all the sick leave on full pay to which he is entitled (together with whatever vacation leave he desires to take in lieu of sick leave with half pay within the limits of the Regulations), the Commanding Officer shall immediately cause a leave form, covering the period of absence at full pay to be submitted. Similarly, when the period of available sick leave with half pay is exhausted, a leave form shall again be submitted. (11) If a member is absent from duty suffering from an attack of malaria, the absence may be treated as special leave in terms of Regulation 53(1)(a), provided, in terms of Regulation 68(1)(a), a Board of Inquiry is held and that sufficient evidence is adduced to establish to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, that the illness was directly attributable to the exposure to malaria in the course of the performance of duty and against which exposure all reasonable precautions had been taken. (12) (a) If, owing to illness, a member is frequently (or for long periods) absent from duty and the nature of the illness is such that it is doubtful whether he will recover completely, an officer, referred to in Standing Order 121(5), should not hesitate to resort to the powers vested in him by Regulation 28, even if the available sick leave has not been exhausted. (c) It should be ensured that the benefits granted in terms of Regulation 50(5) (i.e. the granting of additional sick leave with half pay which may be granted after sick leave with full pay and sick leave with half pay in terms of Regulations 45(1) and 50(4) after the vacation leave due to the member has been exhausted) are not abused. Additional sick leave with half pay should only be granted if the Commissioner is satisfied that the member is not permanently unfit for his normal duties. In this connection the provisions of subparagraph (a) should also be noted. Any period during which a member who is suffering from venerial disease, is of necessity absent from duty, shall be treated as sick leave in terms of Regulation 51(1), provided that a medical practitioner certifies that in his opinion there has been no undue delay in making a sick report. If, however, it is certified that there was an undue delay in making the sick report the provisions of Regulation 51(4) shall apply. (d) The absence from duty of a woman in the employ of the Force, as a result of her confinement, may not be covered by sick leave, but by the granting, in the first instance, of her available vacation leave with full pay, thereafter, vacation leave without pay in terms of Regulation 54(1).
SO 164-7 Sick leave may, however, be granted - (aa) (bb) during the period of pregnancy, but not in respect of any absence which immediately proceeds, without interruption, her absence due to the confinement; or in respect of her absence from duty as a result of a miscarriage or the termination of the pregnancy on medical advice, provided the provisions of the Regulations have been complied with. (e) If a member is absent from duty as a result of a circumcision, sick leave may only be granted provided a registered medical practitioner certifies that the operation is necessary for health reasons. If such a certificate cannot be submitted, the provisions of Regulation 51(4) shall apply. ABSENCE ARISING FROM VOLUNTARY STERILISATION (f) A member may be granted special sick leave with full pay for the necessary period of his absence from duty arising from his voluntary sterilisation. An application for such special leave must be supported by a medical certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner.