Legal updates and opinions
News / News
Increase to BCEA earnings threshold
by Jacques van Wyk, Director; Andre van Heerden, Senior Associate; and Thabisa Yantolo, Candidate Attorney
On 8 February 2021 the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thembelani Waltermade Nxesi, published a Government Gazette[1] providing for the increase of the earnings threshold, as provided for in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (“BCEA”). The new earnings threshold will be R211,596.30 per annum with effect of 1 March 2021.
‘Earnings’ is defined as “the regular annual remuneration before deductions i.e. income tax, pension, medical and similar payments but excluding similar payments (contributions) made by the employer in respect of the employee: Provided that subsistence and transport allowances received, achievement awards and payments for overtime worked shall not be regarded as remuneration for the purpose of this notice.”
Employees who earn in excess of the threshold are excluded from certain provisions of the BCEA such as those relating to ordinary hours of work (section 9), overtime (section 10), compressed working weeks (section 11), averaging hours of work (section 12), meal intervals (section 14), daily and weekly rest periods (section 15), pay for work on Sundays (section 16), pay for night work (section 17(2)) and pay for public holidays where the employee works on a day he/she would not ordinarily work (section 18(3)).
[1] Gazette Number: 44137. Notice No: 77.
Latest News
Procedural certainty in business rescue: Competing commencement processes
by Eric Levenstein, Director and Head of Insolvency & Business Rescue, Brandon Starr, Senior Associate and Clio Patricios, Candidate Attorney [...]
When silence becomes complicity: Constructive dismissal, workplace bullying and the cost of doing nothing
by Bradley Workman-Davies, Director Constructive dismissal remains one of the more difficult claims to prove in South African labour law. [...]
Nxele v Chairperson of the Disciplinary Hearing: Mudau NO and others, [2026] 6 BLLR 628 (LC): Clarifying the operation of section 188A(11) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995
by Bankey Sono, Director and Sandile Mogweng, Candidate Attorney The Labour Court in Nxele v Chairperson of the Disciplinary Hearing: [...]
No grout about it: The LAC cements section 197 principles
by Bradley Workman-Davies, Director Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act has long been one of the most misunderstood and [...]
Making sense of death: A brief overview of inquest proceedings
by Dakalo Singo, Director and Head of Pro Bono By its very nature, death is tragic. The death of a [...]
Is cryptocurrency ‘capital’? Taking the Mangundhla judgment under the loop
by Deon Griessel, Director 1. Introduction Two Gauteng Division judgements have reached diametrically opposite conclusions on the question as to [...]
