Here’s what you should pay your domestic worker this year

They clean our homes, maintain our gardens and care for our children, but how do we determine what domestic workers – including housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and domestic drivers – should be paid per month?

It is believed that there are more than 1.5 million domestic workers in South Africa who account for more than eight per cent of South Africa’s total workforce, Fourways Review reports.

As such, they are protected and provided for by the Department of Labour and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

READ MORE: ‘Dead domestic worker’ scam resurfaces in Pretoria

As part of this government guidance, each year the department determines how much these workers should be paid by their employers.

The Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant updated the minimum wage requirements for domestic workers in both rural and urban areas across the country on 15 December 2017.

Although this varies depending on region, below is information applicable to domestic worker employment in Fourways for next year: 

• Minimum wage requirements are divided into two sections comprising those who work 27 hours or less per week and those who work more than 27 hours per week.

• Domestic workers working more than 27 hours per week must be paid a minimum of R13.05 per hour; R587.40 per week or R2 545.22 per month.

• Domestic workers working less than 27 hours or less per week must be paid a minimum of R15.28 per hour; R412.60 per week or R1 787.80 per month.

• The above rates are applicable from 1 January to 30 November next year, at which point the department will publish new minimum wage requirements.

• Domestic workers may not be made to work more than 45 hours per week and may not work more than nine hours per day for a five-day week or more than eight hours per day for a six-day week.

• They are not allowed to work more than 15 hours overtime per week. For overtime, they must be paid 1.5 times their normal hourly wage.

• Domestic workers are entitled to a one-hour break for a meal after not more than five hours work.

• Work on Sundays is voluntary and domestic workers cannot be forced to work on this day. If he or she agrees to do this work, payment must be double the daily wage.

• Annual leave may not be less than three weeks per year for full-time domestic workers or one day for every 17 days work.

• Pregnant domestic workers are entitled to a minimum of four consecutive months’ maternity leave, however employers are not obliged to pay the domestic worker for the time taken off work due to pregnancy.

Details: www.labour.gov.za

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.