Dear SEU member,

The preamble to the National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 (Act) recognises the need to eradicate poverty and inequality in the national labour market.

In addition, a stated purpose of the Act is to protect workers from unreasonably low wages by ensuring that they at least receive the prevailing national minimum wage (NMW).

The Act applies to all workers, and it defines:

• a worker as any person who works for another and who receives, or is entitled to receive, any payment for that work whether in money or in kind; and
• an employer as any person who is obliged to pay a worker for the work that the worker performs for them.

Some of you might be remunerated as per the NMW or you work with casual workers on match days due to the increased workload and the question has come up if they are covered by the NMW.

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA) provides that even where a worker works for less than four hours on any day, they must be paid for four hours’ work on that day if they earn below R261,748.45 annually (R21 812.37 per month) (which is the new earnings threshold effective 1 April 2025 and determined by the Minister of Employment and Labour).

Therefore the casual employees are covered by the National Minimum Wage Act and please take note the NMW increased on 1 March 2025 to R28.79 for every ordinary hour worked. For an 8 hour work day this will then add to R230,32 per day.

In addition, as highlighted above, as of 1 April 2025, the increased earnings threshold, determined by the Minister of Employment and Labour, will be R261,748.45 per annum or R21 812.37 per month.

This represents an increase of R7,376.78 from the previous amount of R254,371.67, which has been in effect since 1 April 2024.

The earnings threshold impacts the application of provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA), the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) and the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA).

In terms of the BCEA, employees earning more than the earnings threshold are excluded from the provisions, which regulate ordinary hours of work, overtime, compressed working weeks, averaging of hours of work, meal intervals, daily and weekly rest periods, Sunday pay, pay for night work and pay for work on public holidays.

With regards to the LRA, employees earning more than the earnings threshold are not subject to the deeming provision in accordance with which employees engaged by a temporary employment service or labour broker who is not performing a temporary service are deemed to be employees of the client for purposes of the LRA.

In addition, employees earning in excess of the earnings threshold fall outside the scope of the provisions relating to fixed-term employees who are deemed to be employed indefinitely after three months (in the absence of justifiable reasons for fixing the term of the contract).

Looking at the EEA, an employee earning in excess of the earnings threshold who has a dispute under Chapter II of the EEA relating to unfair discrimination, is not permitted to refer the dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration for arbitration (unless the dispute relates to alleged unfair discrimination on the grounds of sexual harassment, or the parties all agree to arbitration) and is obliged to refer the dispute to the Labour Court for adjudication.

For purposes of determining whether an employee earns in excess of the earnings threshold, “earnings” means an employee’s regular annual remuneration before the deduction of income tax, pension fund contributions, medical aid contributions and similar payments, but excludes similar payments or contributions made by the employer in respect of the employee. This is subject to the proviso that subsistence and transport allowances received, achievement awards and payments for overtime worked do not fall within the scope of remuneration.

We trust that this information will be helpful.

You are welcome to contact us if you have any questions.

Regards.

TEAM SEU