Labour Law Assistance for Employers on All Aspects of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act
If you plan on starting a new business or want to buy an existing business in South Africa, you will most probably need to appoint employees. Understanding the laws and regulations related to employment will be essential if you don’t want to get caught up in labour disputes, and have to defend your actions at the CCMA or even in the Labour Court. For such, we recommend making use of the services offered by our labour law attorneys in South Africa.
Our labour law attorneys have the necessary experience in various matters of South African labour law to help your business meet the requirements of the law, ensure fair labour practices and proper training of staff in matters related to HR management, and draw up employment contracts.
We briefly take a look at some aspects of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), which apply to all employers in South Africa, thereby demonstrating how our labour law attorneys can help your company stay on the right side of the law.
According to the BCEA, all employers must comply with the law regarding annual leave, public holidays, Sunday work, sick leave, family responsibility leave, maternity leave, and the setting of work hours in line with the requirements of the law in South Africa.
As our labour attorneys in South Africa will explain, all employers are allowed to make deductions from employee remuneration in accordance with the stipulations of the law. Termination of employment contracts are also regulated by the BCEA. According to the act, all employers in South Africa must provide employees with written details of the employment. The law furthermore stipulates that employers with five or more employees must provide the employees with payslips when they are paid and the written particulars of employment, and they must display a written summary of the BCEA in the workplace where employees can read such.
Written Records of Employees
Employers with five or more employees must keep written record of each employee and must keep the record for a minimum of three years after termination of employment. However, it is not necessary to keep record of employees working less than 24 hours a month. Each record should include the name and surname of the employee, the employee’s occupation, the time worked, and the remuneration received. If an employee is under the age of 18, then the employer must also state the date of birth in the record. We recommend getting guidance from our labour law attorneys in South Africa regarding the written records that you should keep, and the information that the records must contain.
Payslips
Whenever employers pay their workers, they must, according to Section 23 of the BCEA, provide the employees with payslips which have the following information:
- The employer’s details.
- The employee’s name, surname, and occupation.
- A clear indication of the period for which the employer pays remuneration.
- The total remuneration.
- The deductions.
- The nett amount paid.
Where relevant, the payslip must indicate the rate of overtime, overtime hours worked, ordinary hours worked, and hours worked on a public holiday or a Sunday.
How our Labour Attorneys in South Africa Can Help Your Firm
We provide legal guidance regarding all aspects of South African labour law and provide services such as litigation assistance, representation at the CCMA or a relevant bargaining council, dispute resolution assistance, guidance on retrenchments, drafting of employment contracts, handling of unfair labour practice disputes, chairing disciplinary hearings, in-house training regarding aspects related to labour law, and more.
Contact us on (011) 234 2125 for legal guidance and assistance regarding all aspects of labour law in South Africa.
NB – This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. You are advised to consult with us before using/relying on this information. The information is relevant to the date of publishing.
