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The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) provides a basic guideline on BCEA regulations relating to:
- Working times: including shift work, weekend work, public holidays, overtime
- Payment: including payment in kind, deductions
- Leave: annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, family responsibility leave, unpaid leave and absence without leave
- Deductions: including those required by law and those you are allowed to make
- Notice periods
- Administration: documents needed by employees and record-keeping
- Prohibition of victimisation and exploitation
This article will focus on Payment
Payment in kind
Wages can be paid partly in kind. This means that if the worker and the employer agree that wages will be paid partly in kind, then the employer can pay the worker his or her wage through giving him or her housing or use of land, or rations (food), as well as cash. This has been common with farm-workers and domestic workers.
The law says how much the payment in kind is worth. It’s often difficult to work out the value of payment in kind, so the law says that the value must be worked out as follows:
- Either R100 per month, or
- 1/3 of the cash wage, or
- Whichever is higher
The employer and worker can also agree on what the real value of the payment in kind is. They can only do this if the value they agree on is more than what the law says. This agreement must be in writing. When you want to calculate any of the following, you must use the full wage (the cash wage plus the payment in kind):
- Overtime pay
- Payment for work on Sundays and public holidays
- Payment for annual leave and sick leave
- Contributions to and benefits from UIF
Deductions
Deductions from wages (other than those required by law) are not permitted without the written consent of the worker.
The deductions required by law which an employer makes from the wages of a worker are as follows:
- Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)
- Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE or Income Tax)
- Any deduction ordered by a court
Lawful deductions
An employer can lawfully make deductions from the wages of a worker, if the worker instructs the employer in writing to make the deduction, are as follows:
- Trade union subscriptions
- Medical aid contributions
- Pension or provident fund
- Money to pay back a housing loan or other loan from the employer
- Money for food and accommodation
- For loss or damages suffered at work provided the employee has been given a hearing to explain the facts.
The amount that can be deducted can be equal to (but not more than) 25% of the normal wage to offset losses.
Often employers also make unlawful deductions from workers’ wages, such as:
- When there are shortages in a till, the worker has to pay back the shortages
- A worker breaks something at work
- The worker owes the employer money, but did not agree that the amount owing should be deducted
- Being Sick, the worker is off sick and the employer deducts money for the days not worked
- The worker is absent from work without leave (permission to take annual, family responsibility or maternity leave, or being sick)
If an employer wants to deduct a fine from a worker’s wage, to compensate the employer for loss or 
damage, the employer can only deduct the fine if:
- The loss/damage happened during the ‘course and scope of employment’
- The worker was at fault
- A fair hearing was held to give the worker a chance to state her or his case
- The employer does not deduct more than the actual value of the loss or damage
- The total amount deducted is no more than 25% of the employee’s wages
- The worker gives consent in writing
REMEMBER: Fines may not be deducted from wages. The employer can only deduct from a worker’s wage if the worker has agreed to this or if a court has ordered this, and if the employer follows the rules above.
Daily and weekly rest periods
- No employee’ hours of work may be spread over more than 12 hours per day. ‘Spread over’ means from the start of work to the end of work, including any breaks for meals or rest and any overtime
- No worker’s hours of work may be spread over more than 12 hours per day (‘Spread over’ means from the start of work to the end of work, including any breaks for meals or rest and any overtime.)
- A rest period of 1 hour is required after every 5 hours worked. This can be reduced to 30 minutes, if the worker and employer agree in writing
- Any worker is entitled to a daily rest period of 12 hours from the end of work on one day to the start of work on the following day. This rest period can be reduced to 10 hours if a worker lives on the premises and gets a meal break of at least 3 hours (this may be relevant to domestic workers, caretakers, farmworkers, and so on)
- A worker is entitled to a weekly rest period of 36 continuous hours. For many workers, this is over the weekend
- An agreement in writing between the employer and employee may reduce the meal interval to not less than 30 minutes or do away with a meal interval if the employee works less than 6 hours on a day
The agreement can also provide for a rest period of at least 60 consecutive hours (hours in a row) every two weeks.
Here are more articles to do with the Basic Conditions of Employment:
For more about this topic, visit the Labour department of South Africa Website
This article was updated in September 2021