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ANNEXURE 4

[Amended by GN R490 of 8 April 1993 and GN R2545 of 31 December 1993]

(Regulation 4)

Instructions: In terms of Section 21 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act , 1983, an employer is required to keep a summary of the Act on his/her premises.

1.    Print out the Regulation. In your browser, go to "File" "Print".

2.    Save as a Word or WordPerfect file and amend the layout to suit your particular requirements. In your browser, fo to "File" "Save As" and select the document type you wish to save the file as.

Ensure that the Summary is displayed in an area visible to all employees, for example a staff notice board.

SUMMARY TO BE KEPT BY EMPLOYER (EXCLUDING AN EMPLOYER ENGAGED IN FARMING ACTIVITIES OR DOMESTIC WORK) IN TERMS OF SECTION 21

The following is a summary of the provisions of the most important sections of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1983 (except in respect of farming activities and domestic work)

Application of Act

(a) who performs work in connection with charitable operations for which he does not receive remuneration;

(b) employed by the State (including Parliament), the Atomic Energy Corporation of SA Ltd (including a subsidiary company of the Corporation), the SA Reserve Bank, the SA Broadcasting Corporation, the SABS, the CSIR, the SA Medical Research Council, the Land and Agricultural Bank of SA, the Human Sciences Research Council or Mintek;

(c) employed by a university, technikon, college, school or educational institution which is maintained wholly or partly from State funds;

(d) who is a university student employed by any person as part of his university training;

(e) employed by a control board such as the Meat Board, the Maize Board, etc.;

(f) employed by a child welfare society or other welfare organization which receives financial aid from the State or employed by a cultural institution whose conditions of employment are regulated by the Cultural Institutions Act, 1969;

(g) employed on a vessel in respect of which the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951, applies;

(h) who is temporarily employed at any agricultural, horticultural, industrial or similar show.

2. No provision of this Act applies to an employee in as far as it provides for any matter which is regulated for such an employee by or under the Mines and Works Act, 1956, the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995, the Wage Act, 1957, or the Manpower Training Act, 1981.

Ordinary working hours
Sections 2, 4 and 5

No employer shall require or permit-

(a) a security guard or guard to work for more than 60 hours, and any other employee to work for more than 46 hours in any week;

(b) (i) a security guard or guard-

(aa) who works not more than five days per week, to work for more than 12

hours on any day; or

(bb) who works six days per week, to work for more than 10 days on any day;

(ii) a casual employee to work for more than nine and one-quarter hours on any day;

(iii) any other worker-

(aa) who works not more than five days per week, to work for more than nine

and one-quarter hours on any day; or (bb) who works six days per week, to work for more than eight hours on any day (if work on one of the six days does not exceed five hours, the time worked on the other days may be increased to eight and one-half hours).

(1) The above-mentioned hours of work restrictions do not apply to the classes of employees referred to in section 2(3) of the Act.

(2) The prescribed ordinary working hours-

(a) also apply to shift workers (section 5), except that such an employee who is employed in a continuous activity shall not be required to work a shift of longer than eight hours;

(b) may in the case of an employee employed in or in connection with a shop be extended by not more than 15 minutes per day, but in the aggregate by not more than one hour in any week, where the employee is required to attend to a customer after completion of the ordinary working hours (section 6).

Meal intervals
Section 7

No employer shall require or permit an employee to work for more than five hours continuously without a meal interval of not less than one hour, but an employer may enter into an agreement with his employee to shorten the meal interval to not less than 30 minutes.

Note: The provisions of this section do not apply to-

(a) an employee referred to in section 2(3) of the Act;

(b) an employee while he is engaged on emergency work;

(c) a security guard or a guard or

(d) an employee employed in a continuous activity.

Overtime
Section 8

No employer shall require or permit an employee to work overtime otherwise than in terms of an agreement concluded by him with the employee and provided such overtime does not exceed three hours on any day or 10 hours in any week. The maximum overtime may be increased by an inspector after consultation with the employee or employees concerned.

Note: The provisions of this section do not apply to-

(a) an employee referred to in section 2(3) of the Act or

(b) an employee while he is engaged on emergency work.

Payment for overtime
Section 9

An employee who works overtime must be paid at not less than one and one-third times his hourly wage for the overtime worked by him.

Note: The provisions of this section do not apply to an employee referred to in section 2(3) of the Act and do not affect a condition under section 33 which applies to an employee employed in a continuous activity.

Payment for work on Sundays
Section 10

An employee who has worked on a Sunday for four hours or less must be paid not less than a day's wage. If he has worked for longer than four hours he must-

(a) be paid wages for two days or at double his wage rate for the whole time worked by him, whichever is the greater; or

(b) be paid at one and one-third times his wage rate for the time worked and be granted one day's leave on full pay within seven days of such Sunday.

Note: The provisions of this section do not apply to an employee referred to in section 2(3) of the Act and do not affect a condition under section 33 which applies to an employee employed in a continuous activity.

Public holidays and payment for work on public holidays
Section 11

All public holidays are paid holidays for employees employed in or in connection with a shop or office (except an office in which work is performed in connection with or which is incidental to an activity carried out in a factory). All other employees are entitled to New Year's Day, Good Friday, Workers' Day, Ascension Day, Republic Day, the Day of the Vow and Christmas Day as paid holidays. If an employee works on a public holiday which is a paid holiday for him, he must be paid a day's pay plus-

(a) an amount not less than his wage rate for the time worked by him on that day, or a day's pay, whichever is the greater amount; or

(b) an amount not less than one third of his wage rate for the time worked by him on that day, and be granted one day's leave on full pay within seven days.

Note: The provisions of this section do not apply to an employee referred to in section 2(3) of the Act and do not affect a condition under section 33 which applies to an employee employed in a continuous activity.

Annual leave
Section 12

An employer shall grant to-

(a) an outside sales assistant, a traveller, a traveller's assistant, a demonstrator-sales man, a property salesman, an insurance agent, a guard or a security guard, at least 21 consecutive days'; and

(b) any other employee, at least 14 consecutive days',

leave of absence on full pay in respect of each period of 12 consecutive months of employment with him. The leave period must, for each paid public holiday which falls within that period and which would otherwise have been an ordinary working day for such employee, be extended by one working day with full pay.

Sick leave
Section 13

An employee who is absent from work through incapacity is entitled (subject, if required by the employer, to the production of a medical certificate in respect of any absence in excess of two consecutive days)-

(a) in the case of an employee who works a five-day week, to not less than 30 working days'; and

(b) in the case of any other employee, to not less than 36 working days', sick leave on full pay during each period of 36 consecutive months of employment.

Note: In the first 12 months' employment an employee shall not be entitled to sick leave on full pay at a rate of more than-

(a) in the case of an employee who works not more than five days per week, one working day in respect of each completed period of five weeks of employment; and

(b) in the case of every other employee, one working day in respect of each completed month of employment.

Termination of contracts of employment
Section 14

An employer or his employee who desires to terminate the contract of employment shall give-

(a) during the first four weeks of employment, not less than one working day's notice;

and

(b) thereafter, in the case of a weekly employee, one week's notice, and in the case of a monthly employee, two weeks' notice.

The prescribed notice shall-

(a) in the case of a weekly employee be given on or before the usual pay day and shall run from the day after such pay day; and

(b) in the case of a monthly employee, be given on or before the first or the 15th day of a month and shall run from such first or 15th day.

An employer and his employee, except an illiterate employee, shall give notice in writing.

Certificate of service
Section 15

Every employer shall furnish an employee with a certificate of service upon termination of employment except where such employee deserts.

Prohibition of certain employment
Section 17

An employer shall not, without prejudice to the provisions of section 52A of the Child Care Act, 1983 (Act No 74 of 1983), employ any person under the age of 15 years and shall not require or permit a female employee to work during the period four weeks prior to the expected date of her confinement and eight weeks after that date.

Note: Section 52A of the Child Care Act, 1983 (Act No 74 of 1983), refers to 'Prohibition of employment of certain children'.

Victimization prohibited
Section 18

It is an offence for an employer to dismiss or alter the service conditions of any employee to the disadvantage of the latter by reason of such employee having given evidence before a court of law or having given information to an inspector or other person entitled to such information under the Act or because the employee belongs to any trade union or takes part in the lawful activities of such a union or having discussed his conditions of employment with his fellow workers, his employer or any other person, or has refused or failed to carry out an order of his employer that is in conflict with the provisions of the Act.

Prohibition of certain acts relating to payment of remuneration
Section 19

No employer shall-

(a) require or permit an employee to-

(i) repay to him any remuneration paid to that employee;

(ii) give a receipt for or otherwise to represent that he has received more than he actually received by way of remuneration;

(b) levy any fine against an employee or deduct any amount from his remuneration, except in accordance with a written authority given to him by the employee or in accordance with an order of court or a provision of any law.

Records to be kept by employers
Section 20

Every employer shall at all times keep a time and wages register in respect of all employees, except employees referred to in section 2(3) of the Act.

Inspectors
Section 22

Employers must provide the necessary facilities for inspection by duly appointed inspectors. Any employer who hinders an inspector in the exercise of his duties shall be guilty of an offence.

Recovery of certain amounts due in terms of the Act
Section 30

No employee shall recover from an employer and no employer shall recover from an employee any amount due to him by virtue of a provision of the Act unless the Attorney-General has refused to prosecute, the party concerned has been acquitted on a charge or the Director-General has issued a certificate on application, stating that the employer or employee, as the case may be, has requested that the provisions of section 27 shall not be applied in respect of his claim.

Note: The purpose of this section is to give a person the choice of instituting either civil or criminal proceedings to recover amounts due.

While the said certificate is in force, the provisions of sections 27 (Inquiry by court as to amount of certain unpaid moneys), 28 (Court order concerning payment of certain amounts to designated officer) and 29 (Disposal of amount paid to designated officer) shall not apply in criminal proceedings in which the matters at issue correspond mainly to those in the civil proceedings in question.

If the complainant should decide to no longer pursue the matter in civil law, he may request that the certificate be withdrawn and that the complaint be proceeded with in accordance with criminal law.

Private agreements
Section 35

The provisions of the Act or a condition subject to which exemption was granted (section 34) cannot be varied by agreement.