Labour Law Pack

Employers must promote equal opportunity in the workplace by eliminating unfair discrimination in employment policies and practices, and must not directly or indirectly discriminate against employees or job applicants on prohibited or arbitrary grounds. Keep workplace policies, recruitment, pay, promotion, discipline, training, accommodation, and complaint-handling practices aligned to the Employment Equity Act, and retain evidence of anti-discrimination measures and equality-related employee complaints. Reference: Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, ss5 and 6.

Employers must keep ordinary working hours, overtime, meal intervals, and rest periods within the Basic Conditions of Employment Act working-time limits. Practical controls should record ordinary hours, approved overtime agreements, overtime totals, meal intervals, daily rest, and weekly rest so payroll and HR can evidence compliance. Baseline thresholds include no more than 45 ordinary hours per week, no more than 9 ordinary hours per day for employees working 5 days or fewer per week, no more than 8 ordinary hours per day for employees working more than 5 days per week, and overtime only by agreement within the BCEA overtime cap. Reference: BCEA 75 of 1997, ss9-15.

Employers must administer BCEA leave entitlements consistently across the workplace, including annual leave, pay for annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, parental leave, adoption leave, commissioning parental leave, and family responsibility leave. The employer should keep company-level HR controls for leave cycles, approval rules, payroll treatment, medical-certificate requests, proof requests, and records showing that annual leave is granted within the statutory cycle and is not substituted with cash except on termination. Reference: BCEA 75 of 1997, ss19-27.

Employers must pay remuneration in money at the required place, time, and interval, provide written payslip information, control lawful deductions, and keep payroll records that allow remuneration to be calculated and audited under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. The employer should maintain company-level payroll controls for pay periods, ordinary and overtime hours, rate of pay, gross pay, deductions, net pay, employee acknowledgements, and correction records. Individual employee payslips and wage histories remain employee-facing evidence, but this obligation is seeded at company level because it governs the employer's payroll control framework. Reference: BCEA 75 of 1997, ss32-35.

Employers must pay every worker at least the national minimum wage for ordinary hours worked and keep payroll controls that test hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, commission, piece-work, and learnership pay against the current Gazette rate or applicable exemption. Wage calculations must exclude transport, equipment, tool, food, accommodation and other work-enabling allowances, payments in kind, bonuses, tips, gifts, and other excluded categories unless a sectoral determination or lawful exemption says otherwise. The employer must also prevent unilateral reductions to wages, hours, or other conditions when implementing the national minimum wage, retain proof of any approved exemption, and reconcile underpayments or deductions through BCEA-compliant payroll records. Reference: National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018, ss4, 5, 6 and 15.

Employers must maintain fair labour-practice controls for discipline, grievances, dismissal, consultation, and dispute readiness under the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. At minimum, the employer should keep a disciplinary code, ensure procedurally and substantively fair disciplinary action, preserve employee-facing records of warnings, grievances, hearings, outcomes, and referrals, and retain evidence needed for CCMA or bargaining-council disputes. Reference: Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, s185, s186, s188, s191 and Schedule 8 Code of Good Practice: Dismissal.

Employers must provide and maintain, as far as reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to employees' health under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993. Maintain company-level controls for hazard identification, risk assessment, safe systems of work, supervision, employee information and training, PPE where risk cannot be eliminated, health and safety representative consultation where applicable, incident reporting, and corrective-action tracking. Employee-specific records can evidence training, incidents, medical surveillance, or acknowledgements later, but the baseline duty is a workplace-level employer obligation. Reference: OHSA 85 of 1993, ss8, 13, 14, 17, 19 and 24.

Employers must supply each employee with written particulars of employment when employment starts, keep the particulars current when terms change, explain them in a language and manner the employee understands, and retain a copy for inspection. The written particulars should cover the employer and employee identity, workplace, job title or brief work description, start date, ordinary working hours and days, wage or salary, overtime rate, other cash payments, payments in kind, deduction rules, leave entitlement, notice period, bargaining-council or sectoral determination coverage where applicable, and any other BCEA-required employment terms. Individual signed acknowledgements are employee-facing evidence, but this obligation is seeded at company level because the employer must maintain the issuing and update control. Reference: BCEA 75 of 1997, s29.

Employers must handle trade-union organisational-rights requests, collective-engagement processes, workplace-forum participation, information-disclosure duties, stop-order facilities, access requests, representative elections, trade-union activity leave, and collective bargaining mandates in a documented and even-handed way. Keep this company-level because it governs employer systems, bargaining units, recognition arrangements, and workplace-wide engagement rather than individual employee proof. Reference: Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, Chapter III organisational rights, ss11-22; collective agreements and workplace-forum consultation framework.

Employers considering retrenchment or other dismissals for operational requirements must run a documented consultation process before any final decision. Controls should preserve the section 189 notice, consultation invites, alternatives considered, selection criteria, severance and assistance proposals, employee or representative responses, final reasons, and dispute-readiness evidence. This remains company-level because it manages a workplace or business restructuring process, while affected employee files can attach individual proof. Reference: Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, s189 and s189A operational-requirements consultation; Code of Good Practice on Dismissal Based on Operational Requirements.

Designated employers must maintain company-level Employment Equity controls for employee consultation, workforce analysis, barrier identification, affirmative-action measures, numerical goals where required, senior-manager responsibility, employee communication, recordkeeping, and annual progress reporting to the Director-General. Keep this obligation company-scoped because the plan, consultation forum, EEA2 report, EEA4 statement, and management accountability are employer-wide statutory duties rather than per-employee proof. Reference: Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, ss13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25 and 26.

Employers must control unfair discrimination in terms and conditions of employment, including remuneration, benefits, grading, promotion, and other employment policies or practices, and designated employers must submit prescribed remuneration and benefits statements when reporting. Where disproportionate income differentials or equal-pay risks are found, record the analysis, objective justification, corrective measures, and progressive reduction plan at company level. Individual pay records may support the analysis, but the statutory duty is an employer-wide pay-equity control. Reference: Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, ss6 and 27.

Employers whose leviable remuneration is expected to exceed the statutory threshold must register for the Skills Development Levy, calculate SDL at 1% of remuneration, declare and pay it through the monthly EMP201 payroll tax process, and preserve payroll, exemption, correction, and payment evidence. Keep this company-level because SDL is an employer payroll-tax control across the workforce, while individual payroll records merely support the calculation. Reference: Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999, ss3, 4, 5 and 6; SARS Skills Development Levy employer guidance.

Employers participating in the SETA levy-grant system should maintain an annual Workplace Skills Plan and Annual Training Report control for skills needs analysis, consultation, Skills Development Facilitator appointment, planned training, completed training, proof of attendance, mandatory-grant submission readiness, and SETA portal evidence. Keep this company-level because WSP/ATR submission is an employer-wide planning and reporting duty; employee training files can evidence individual courses where needed. Reference: Skills Development Act 97 of 1998, workplace skills planning and SETA levy-grant framework; SETA WSP/ATR annual submission practice.

Employers must provide UIF employee information when they commence activities as an employer and must update the Commissioner before the seventh day of each month with changes from the previous month. Controls should cover employer contact details, branch addresses, employee names, identity numbers, monthly remuneration, workplace addresses, new appointments, terminations, contributor status, and UI-19 or uFiling submission evidence. Keep this company-level because the statutory declaration is an employer payroll-administration duty, while employee entity records can hold individual proof where an employee claim or termination history matters. Reference: Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001, s56; UI-19 employer declaration and Regulation 13 monthly declaration requirements.

Employers must calculate, deduct, declare, and pay UIF contributions for covered employees through the monthly employer declaration process. Controls should verify the employee 1% contribution, matching employer 1% contribution, applicable remuneration ceiling, lawful non-contributor reasons, EMP201 or uFiling allocation, payment proof, corrections, and reconciliation to payroll records. Keep this company-level because UIF contribution payment is an employer payroll-tax control across the workforce; employee-specific payroll records support the calculation where individual proof is needed. Reference: Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act 4 of 2002, ss5, 6, 7, 8 and 9; SARS UIF employer contribution guidance.