The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) provides a basic guideline on BCEA regulations relating to:

 

This article will focus on: Working times and pay

Even though overtime is voluntary, if the employee agreed in the original contract to work over time when necessary, then this overtime must be worked. If the employee refuses to work overtime then he/she is in breach of the contract and the employer can take disciplinary action against the employee.

 

An employer who is employing less than 10 employees only needs to pay overtime at time and a third of the normal wage. The employer can also agree with the employee to work up to 15 hours overtime during a week as against the normal ten hours.

Note: While individual overtime is voluntary (subject to an agreement) a joint refusal by a number of employees to work normal overtime, will probably constitute a strike or industrial action.

Payment for Sunday work

This must be the greater of double the normal hourly rate for the amount of Sunday hours worked or one full day’s pay. If it is normally part of a worker’s job to work on a Sunday, then s/he must be paid at a rate of time and a half his/her normal hourly rate.

What about public holidays?

workers are entitled to be paid for public holidays which fall on a day that they normally would have worked – even though they will be off and not working on the public holiday. A worker can agree to work on a public holiday, but this is voluntary. If a worker does agree to work, they must get a normal working day off in exchange or they must be paid double the normal hourly rate for the amount of hours worked on the day.

The public holidays in South Africa are:

1 January                New Year’s Day

21 March                 Human Rights Day

Good Friday and Family Day (dates change)

27 April                   Freedom Day

1 May                     Workers’ Day

16 June                   Youth Day

9 August                 National Women’s Day

24 September        Heritage Day

16 December          Day of Reconciliation

25 December          Christmas Day

26 December          Day of Goodwill

Night work

Work after 6 pm and before 6 am is voluntary. Workers must be paid an extra allowance or have their working hours reduced. Transport must be available for the workers to get from their homes to work and back. The law is unclear as to who must ‘provide or pay’ for such transport.

Flexibility in working hours

The BCEA allows for some flexibility in the arrangement of working hours, by agreement between the employer and workers (collective agreement) or one worker (individual agreement):

The workers may still not work more than an average of 45 ordinary hours per week during this period. Also the agreement cannot go on for longer than 4 months. Where reference is made to a collective agreement, then this an agreement should be made through the employees’ trade union.

Other articles about the BCEA can be found here:

 

You can contact us for a more comprehensive summary in one document.

The complete BCEA can be viewed at www.gov.za

 

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