Big change for anyone in South Africa now earning more than R21,800 a month

The Department of Employment and Labour adjusted the official earnings threshold for 2025, which will affect anyone earning more than R21,800 a month.

The earnings threshold is the point at which specific sections of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) cease to apply.

Any workers whose salaries have increased beyond R21,200 a month in 2025 will lose certain automatic protections.

Most of these protections relate to things like ordinary hours of work, overtime and public holiday pay.

As of 1 April, the new threshold will be R261,748.45, up from R254,371.67 in 2024. This is an increase of R7,376.78, or 2.9%.

The threshold equates to just over R21,800 per month.

According to legal experts, employees who earn above the threshold are not entitled to certain protections that are afforded to workers who earn below the threshold.

Employees earning above the threshold amount do not have a statutory right to demand minimum employment conditions insofar as it relates to the provisions of sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17(2), and 18(3) of the BCEA.

These specific provisions are:

• 9. Ordinary hours of work
• 10. Overtime
• 11. Compressed working week
• 12. Averaging of hours of work
• 14. Meal intervals
• 15. Daily and weekly rest period
• 16. Pay for work on Sundays
• 17. Night work -17(2) deals with transport and night shift allowances
• 18. Public holidays – 18(3) deals with payment for work on a public holiday that falls on a day the employee would ordinarily not have worked.

The BCEA protections for these provisions only apply to employees earning below the threshold.

For those earning above the threshold, these sections may be negotiated between employer and employee.

The agreed employment conditions may be less favourable than those applicable to employees earning below the threshold.

Employees earning above the threshold are also not subject to the deeming provisions that apply to labour brokers and fixed-term employment provisions under the Labour Relations Act.

Under the Employment Equity Act, employees earning above the threshold are not allowed to refer disputes relating to unfair discrimination to the CCMA for arbitration unless they are related to sexual harassment or all parties agree to arbitration.

These need to be handled by the Labour Court.

For employers, experts have warned that the increase to the earnings threshold may result in an increased number of employees becoming entitled to the stricter protections afforded to such employees in labour legislation, such as overtime payments.

This may, in turn, have financial consequences for employers.

What are earnings?

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;
• Before the deduction of pension fund contributions;
• Before the deduction of medical aid contributions and similar payments;
• Excluding similar 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.