{"id":871495,"date":"2026-08-21T12:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871495"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:48:20","slug":"good-news-for-anyone-employing-a-domestic-worker-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/871495\/good-news-for-anyone-employing-a-domestic-worker-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for anyone employing a domestic worker in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s employment laws are expected to undergo revisions to better protect gig and on-call workers from unexpected schedule changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, most private households will be exempt from the coming admin-heavy changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Draft Employment Laws Amendment Bill aims to introduce a new framework to protect employees earning below the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) earnings threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill specifically wants to add protections for workers who only work when work is available, often referred to as on-call or zero-hours workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These employees, often found in sectors such as retail, security, or hospitality, are particularly vulnerable to irregular hours, lack of guaranteed income, and last-minute cancellations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposed new laws state that<strong> employers must specify the maximum number of hours per period and the exact times when the employee is required to be available.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Employers must also provide notice periods for both reporting to work and for shift cancellations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The notice given to a worker to report for duty or to cancel a shift must be reasonable. This will be assessed by balancing the employer&#8217;s operational needs with the impact on the worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If an employer cancels work without providing the required notice, <strong>they must compensate the employee for the hours that were cancelled.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The amendments require employers to clearly outline, in writing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Guaranteed hours <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maximum hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Availability periods and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reasonable notice periods for reporting to work or cancelling shifts.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The notice period must take into account the nature of the business, the employer\u2019s control over work availability, and the potential impact on the employee\u2019s life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Employees are protected from being unfairly restricted from seeking employment elsewhere, unless there are legitimate operational reasons, such as the need to protect confidential information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the new laws would seemingly apply to households employing a part-time domestic worker earning below the BCEA threshold, most of these employers would not qualify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is because the Bill specifically exempts &#8220;small employers&#8221;, with the <strong>provisions not applicable to employers who employ fewer than 10 employees.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">National Minimum Wage changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Domestic-workers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Domestic-workers-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-773992\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Domestic-workers-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Domestic-workers-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Domestic-workers-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Domestic-workers.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill also introduces amendments regarding compliance with the national minimum wage, which may still apply to certain households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill states that deferred payments (such as retirement fund contributions) should be excluded from the wage calculation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This ensures that compliance is <strong>based solely on actual immediate take-home pay.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This amendment directly addresses concerns raised in the Labour Appeal Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a prominent case, the court noted that including deferred benefits in the minimum wage calculation undermined the core purpose of the National Minimum Wage Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill also simplifies future adjustments to the NMW by removing the need for separate minimum wage reviews for farm and domestic workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Minimum Wage Commission has officially opened an invitation for input regarding adjustments to the national minimum wage for 2027. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each year, the commission conducts a consultation with stakeholders to gather their insights, which are compiled into a recommendation report for potential changes to the wage for the upcoming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Minimum Wage (NMW) represents the lowest remuneration rate that employers are legally obligated to pay their employees for each ordinary hour worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is illegal for employers to pay their employees less than this minimum rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For 2026, the commission recommended an increase of CPI+1.5%, which the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) officially announced as a 5% increase in February. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This adjustment raised the NMW from R28.79 to R30.23 per ordinary hour worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most workers, this hourly rate equates to a weekly income of R1,264.85 (based on a 45-hour workweek) and a monthly income of R5,895 (based on 4.3 weeks, or 195 hours).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a more typical work month of 160 hours, the minimum wage rises to R4,834, an increase from R4,606 in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the specifics of the 2027 increase are yet to be determined, the commission has a history of adjusting the wage to be higher than the rate of inflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With inflation rates expected to rise, projected to average 4.4% according to South African Reserve Bank (SARB) data, the national minimum wage is expected to exceed a baseline of R31.56 per hour in the coming<strong> <\/strong>year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The draft bill can be read below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Draft-Labour-Law-Amendment-Bill.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most private households will be spared from heavy admin in coming changes to work hour protections in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":869782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not 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