Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The following entails a short summary of the basic rights of employees earning below the earnings threshold, as regulated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act 75 of 1997) as amended (BCEA).
Normal working hours
No employee may work more than 45 normal hours per week. An employee may not be required to work more than nine normal hours per day for a five-day week, or more than eight normal hours for a six-day or more week.
Overtime
Overtime is limited to ten hours per week, and no more than three hours per day. Payment for overtime is one and a half times the employee’s normal hourly rate.
Meal intervals
Employees must be granted a 60-minute meal interval after five consecutive working hours, which can be reduced to 30 minutes by agreement.
Work on a Sunday
If a Sunday is a normal working day, the employee must be paid at one and a half times the normal hourly rate. A written agreement to this effect must be in place. If a Sunday is not a normal working day and the employee is required to work on a Sunday, he/she must be paid double the normal hourly rate.
Public holidays
If a public holiday falls on a day on which the employee would normally work, an employer must pay employees who don’t work on the public holiday at least their ordinary daily wage. Employees who do work on the public holiday must be paid at least double the daily wage or their normal daily wage, plus an hourly rate for actual hours worked, whichever is the greatest. If an employee works on a public holiday and he/she normally would not work on this day, the employer must pay him/her an amount equal to his/her daily wage plus hourly wage for each hour worked on the public holiday.
Leave
- An employee is entitled to 21 consecutive days’ paid annual leave per cycle, or the parties can agree that annual leave will be calculated at one day’s paid leave for every 17 days worked.
- An employee is entitled to six weeks’ paid sick leave during each three-year cycle. In the first six months, an employee is entitled to one day’s paid sick leave for every 26 days worked.
- An employee employed for more than four months and working at least four days per week is entitled to three days’ paid family responsibility leave per year when the employee’s child is sick or the employee’s spouse, life partner, parents, adoptive parents, grandparents, child, adoptive child, grandchild, or sibling passed away.
- A pregnant employee is entitled to four consecutive months’ unpaid maternity leave and can submit a claim to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
- The employee is entitled to ten consecutive days’ unpaid parental leave at the birth of a child and can submit a claim to the UIF.
- An employee who adopts a child aged two years or younger is entitled to ten consecutive weeks’ unpaid adoption leave and can claim UIF.
- An employee whose child is born through surrogacy is entitled to ten consecutive weeks’ unpaid commissioned parental leave and can claim UIF.
Retirement age
Retirement age is not prescribed by law. Employers are encouraged to determine the applicable retirement age and include it in the employment contract or a policy. – Christiaan Swart, senior legal advisor, LWO Employers Organisation
For enquiries, send an email to christiaan@lwo.co.za or phone 071 485 3565.