This guide explains Section 18 in full: exactly what it says, what each of the four payment scenarios means in practice, who is covered, who is not, how to calculate what you are owed at any salary level, the special rules for shift workers...
Sectoral Determination 14 Explained: Hospitality Worker Rights in South Africa (2026)
If you work in a hotel, restaurant, guest house, game lodge, coffee shop, pub, fast food outlet, or any related hospitality business in South Africa, Sectoral Determination 14 (SD14) governs your employment relationship. It sets the minimum standards for your wages, working hours, leave,...
Understanding South Africa’s New Code of Good Practice: Dismissal — What Workers Need to Know
If you're a worker in South Africa, you should care about how and when an employer can dismiss you. Dismissal is one of the most serious actions an employer can take, and in September 2025, the rules changed. The new Code of Good Practice:...
Understanding Sunday Pay in South Africa: Your Rights Under the BCEA
As most of you will already know, in South Africa, workers’ rights are protected by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). This act essentially outlines all employee rights and inm section 16 it specifically outlines how employees should be compensated for working on...
Understanding Your Rest Period Rights: Section 15 of the BCEA
If you are working in South Africa, you have probably wondered, “How much rest time am I supposed to get between work shifts or at the end of the week?” or “Can my boss make me work seven days straight?” These are all really...
A Guide to Job Resignations
At some point in our lives, many of us will have to resign from a job. It can be a difficult decision, especially if we have spent several years in the same position and have established relationships with our colleagues. Unfortunately, some employers and...
Disciplinary measures available for employers
If an employee fails to follow the rules/regulations or performance standards of the company, what are the disciplinary measures available for employers? This is a question I recently received from a manager of a small company. And after answering him directly via E-Mail I thought...
17 Basic Employee Rights
The BCEA (Basic Conditions of Employment Act) makes a few basic employee rights exceptionally clear. It deals with things like hours of work, leave, payment of remuneration, termination of employment, and methods of enforcement. Every employee should know their rights, and in fact, your...
A guide to Retrenchment in South Africa
The disastrous economic effects of the government's approach to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus will likely be felt for years to come. Daily we hear about small businesses closing up shop as they just can not withstand the financial losses suffered. While...
Sick Leave in South Africa | What you need to know
Many workers do not entirely understand the law surrounding sick leave and the individual rights of both the employer and employee. Fortunately, as with most employee/employer-related questions we can find most of the answers in the basic conditions of employment act or the labour...
How much notice should you give when resigning?
How much notice should you give when resigning? For some reason this is still a commonly asked question by employees. Fortunately, we don’t need to guess, because the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA) has already answered this question for us...
Summary of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act
All employers MUST display a summary of the Basic Conditions Act at the workplace. If you would like to get to know this summary of the BCEA or download a copy in your language you can do so right here....