Sonja Vorster
Many employees and employers still seem to be unsure what the law under section 10(2) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) stipulates about overtime.
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It is mandatory for the employer to make overtime payment to an employee who earns less than the earning threshold of R205 433.30 p.a or (R17 119.44 per month) and who works overtime.
If an employee earns below the earning threshold, the employee is automatically entitled to be paid overtime.
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Employees engaged as sales staff that travel to customers and regulate their own hours of work and employees who work less than 24 hours a month for an employer, do not enjoy the protection offered by certain sections of the BCEA.
For those employees earning less than R17 119.44 per month, overtime starts once the employee has completed the ordinary hours of work. Hours in excess of either eight or nine per day, depending on the days worked in a week, are overtime hours and must be compensated accordingly. Where an employee is contractually bound to work 40 hours per week, overtime starts with the 41st hour.
Any agreement that the employee should first complete the first 45 hours per week (or 195 hours per month) before overtime will be paid, is invalid. Technically, an employee who has worked only 10 hours in one week may be entitled to overtime payment.
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For example: the employee who normally works a six-day work week, goes to work on Monday, and works 10 hours and goes home. That evening the employee falls ill and is booked off sick from work for the rest of the week.
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The employee has not yet completed a 45-hour work week, but since this employee may not work more than eight ordinary hours in any day, the employee is entitled to two hours of overtime payment at a rate of at least 1.5 times the employee’s wage. Section 9 of the BCEA provides for ordinary hours of work and states that 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.
If an employee works 12 hours overtime, which is in excess of the 10 hours that the BCEA prescribes. An employer may, by agreement, compensate the employee for the overtime worked at the prescribed rate of:
(a) 1.5 times the normal wage; or
(b) pay the normal wage and grant 30 minutes time off (on full pay); or
(c) grant the employee at least 90 minutes time off for each hour of overtime worked.
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An employer must grant paid time off within one month of the employee becoming entitled to it.
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