With effect from the 1st July 20123 there has been an amendment to the earnings threshold as contemplated in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (“BCEA”).
The current threshold of R183,008 per annum rises to R193,805. Any employee whose remuneration is higher than R193,805 will not be entitled to certain provisions of the BCEA (see below). However, those who fall below that sum will be entitled to those provisions and, as the law overrides contracts of employment, must receive the necessary consideration. In other words, an employee may not have been entitled to overtime on the 30th June, but from the 1st July he/she is entitled and must be paid.
The sections are:
9 – Ordinary hours of work.
10 – Overtime.
11 – Compressed working week.
12 – Averaging of hours of work.
14 – Meal intervals.
15 – Daily and weekly rest period.
16 – Pay for work on Sundays.
17(2 – ) Night work.
18(3) – Public holidays.
Remuneration is defined in the BCEA as any payment in money or in kind, or both in money and in kind, made or owing to any person in return for that person working for any person, including the State, but excluding subsistence and transport allowances received, achievement awards and payments for overtime worked, before deductions other than similar payments made by the employer in respect of the employee. Deductions would be matters such as medical aid, profident fund and statutory deductions such as income tax. If the employer contributes towards provident or pension schemes, medical aid, than those payments are excluded from the ‘earnings’ definition. [My emphasis].
You should review the contractual circumstances of all employees earning less than R193,805.
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