Revised Earning Threshold

On 13 May 2011, the Annual Threshold for earnings was revised and increased from R 149 736.00 (R 12 478.00 p/m) to R 172 000.00 (R 14 333.33 p/m) and is effective from 1 July 2011

All employees earning below the threshold amount of R 172 000.00 per annum has the full protection of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

Some of the rights applicable to employees who earn below the threshold amount include the following:

1. Overtime may only be worked by agreement between employer and employee.

2. The employee has the legal right and entitlement to demand payment for overtime worked at the rate of 1,5 times his normal wage rate, or at whatever rate is applicable (not less favourable than the minimum set in the Act).

3. The employee can also enter into an agreement with the employer whereby he/she can be given timeoff work instead of payment for overtime worked

4. Generally, the employee may legally refuse to work more than 45 hours per week normal time and he/she may legally refuse to work more than 10 hours per week overtime. In addition, the employee may legally refuse to work more than 12 hours in any one day, consisting of nine hours normal time and three hours overtime. There are however certain circumstances where the employee may not be able to refuse to work, e.g. emergency overtime.