05 Sep Know Your Rights: Overtime: What are considered ordinary working hours, and paid at normal rates?
Know Your Rights:
Overtime: What are considered ordinary working hours, and paid at normal rates?
What the Law says:
Chapter 2, Section 2.3 of The Basic Conditions of Employment Act No.75 of 1997, as amended in 2020 is part of the new amendment, and states:
Ordinary hours of work.
An employer may not require or permit an employee to work more than—
(a) 45 hours in any week; and
(b) nine hours in any day if the employee works for five days or fewer in a week; or
(c) eight hours in any day if the employee works on more than five days in a week.
(2) An employee’s ordinary hours of work in terms of subsection (1) may by agreement be extended by up to 15 minutes in a day but not more than 60 minutes in a week to enable an employee whose duties include serving members of the public to continue performing those duties after the completion of ordinary hours of work.
(3) Schedule 1 establishes procedures for the progressive reduction of the maximum ordinary hours of work to a maximum of 40 ordinary hours of work per week and eight ordinary hours of work per day.
Daily wage payment.
(1) An employee or a worker as defined in section 1 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2018, who works for less than four hours on any day must be paid for four hours work on that day.
(2) This section applies to employees or workers who earn less than the earnings threshold set by the Minister in terms of section 6 (3).
(You can download a full copy of the Act Basic Conditions of Employment Act No here)
What the CCMA Says:
The CCMA also has a very useful Information sheet that breaks down all the relevant legislation
Download a copy of the CCMA Information Sheet on the Working Time
Who Does this Chapter on Leave Apply To?
This chapter does not apply to senior managerial employees, employees engaged as sales staff who travel, and employees who work less than 24 hours a month.
More Resources on This Topic that May Interest You:
Code of Good Practice on the Arrangement of Working Time
Disclaimer: RESOURCE recruitment is not a Labour Consultancy and is not giving Labour Advice. The above information is freely available on the Department of Labour and CCMA website, and any legal advice should be sought from a legal professional.
