Work hours

Work Hours Regulations

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Work hours regulations…who are they for?

According to the BCEA (Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Act 2014,) work hour stipulations apply to employees who earn less than R241 110, 59 a year.

If you earn more, you are not covered by the work hour clauses.

If you work less than 24 hours per month, you are also not included in these clauses.

Setting work hours

Consider your employee’s health and safety when setting their work hours. Also, respect their family responsibilities.

The BCEA says a day is 24 hours (from the time the employee starts working).

  • they may not work more than 45 hours per week (excluding lunch break).
  • they may not work more than 9 hours a day (in 5 days or less).
  • and no more than 8 hours a day if working more than 5 days per week.

This may be extended – by mutual agreement – by

  • 15 minutes a day;
  • not more than 60 minutes a week

This enables an employee whose duty it is to serve the public to continue performing those duties after the completion of ordinary hours of work.Work hours Exceptions

Employment contract

  • the employee must agree to hours in writing.
  • they may not work more than 12 hours any day, up to 12 hours a day(including meal break) without overtime pay.
  • may not work more than 45 hours a week.
  • or more than 6 days a week.

Lunch breaks

This must be included in the contract of employment. (The meal break is usually not included as a work hour.)

  • lunch break must be taken after 5 hours of work.
  • it must last at least an hour.
  • they may not work at all during this break (unless duties can’t be left unattended, or done by someone else).
  • they must be paid if required to work during their lunch break.

* it may be agreed -in writing- to reduce the lunch break to 30 minutes.

Rest periods

All employees must be allowed to rest, therefore…

  • there must be at least 12 hours between work periods (can be reduced to 10 hours if they live in the work premises – but then lunch break must be at least 3 hours).
  • weekend rest must be at least 36 hours…and include a Sunday.
  • OR they have 60 hours of rest every 2-week period.
  • The employer may reduce the rest period by up to 8 hours BUT must then extend next week’s rest period by the same amount of time.

Work hours at night

Night work – after 6pm and before 6am

  • employees must agree to night work.
  • shift allowance must be paid, or reduced working hours.
  • transport must be provided between their home and place of work.

Night shift

  • BUT if they work regularly (5x a month or 50x a year) after 23:00 and before 6:00 am, then:
  • workers must be informed of any safety hazards that may be faced during work hours.
  • they have a right to a medical exam (at employer’s expense) before starting duties AND may have follow-up check ups if they continue those night duties.
  • if night shift results in health problems, they must be moved to a day shift as soon as possible.

If you need more information around the regulations linked to work hours, please contact the Paymaster Helpdesk. We also offer comprehensive payroll services, that will keep your business compliant.

Hrmaster Hats Series

Hat 6- The importance of being TRUSTWORTHY!

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Hat 6 — 3 Levels of Trust

When a Payroll professional joins a Payroll department, they will immediately understand – TRUST is vital and TRUST is earned! Your position in this crucial division of the company, and your access to confidential information, should make you realize how important it is that you are 100% trustworthy. However, this trust can also – quickly and easily – be broken because of one small error!

There are 3 spheres of trust in a company:

1. Management trusts the Payroll Professional

Consider this example: “Please keep this confidential”…said to the Payroll professional who has been summoned to the boardroom. Often this may mean bad news is coming. Maybe the official letter states “the company has decided to downsize, and we need you to calculate a redundancy package for Mr. X , who has been terminated with immediate effect. As a result, Mr. X wants his salary paid out immediately.”
Or maybe, there is good news on the horizon. Perhaps the organization has decided to pay a bonus, and the executive management will ask you to begin calculating facts and figures accordingly. Great news!

Employee trustThis confidential information is your opportunity, as a Payroll professional, to prove your trustworthiness. For instance, you will know to whom management has decided to award a sizeable bonus. Or maybe, who did not qualify for an increase in their salary/remuneration package. And they trust you not to disclose this information to any unauthorised person.
To put it bluntly, management trusts you, as a Payroll professional, to keep your lips sealed!

2. Employees trust the Payroll Professional

Employee trust 2As a Payroll professional, you have more information on any employee, than anyone else in the organization.
Example: 1 – A garnishee order alerts you to the fact that an employee is experiencing financial difficulties.
Example 2 – Or a divorce summons arrives at the office, and you as Payroll professional are immediately aware that an employee is undergoing personal problems. This might mean a possible change in marital status for that employee to deal with.

As a Payroll professional, you are privy to many secrets (say someone is having a baby, or they’re having an affair). Or someone might be considering a massive credit purchase, and you know because the retailer contacted your Payroll department to verify the employment and salary details of that employee.
Employees of a company expect the Payroll professional NOT to divulge their private issues, whether personal or related to their job.

3. External service providers trust the Payroll Professional

As a Payroll professional, you will be required to submit regular documents and reports to various government departments or private institutions. You have to report on taxation matters, divulge medical aid details, and even emolument (or garnishee) orders that will be deducted from an employee’s salary, and paid over to a creditor.
These institutions trust the Payroll professional to send the correct information, in the correct format,Employee trust 3 at the right time.
And remember, you as Payroll professional will often be contacted by financial institutions (such as banks and credit providers), to verify the employment and remuneration details of an employee.

In all 3 spheres mentioned above, you as Payroll professional will be trusted to be 100% truthful and honest. This develops your reputation as someone who is trustworthy!

So let me implore you to do everything in your power to retain the trust you have worked so hard to build up in your organization. One careless mistake…a word spoken out of turn…and trust will be broken in an instant!
Do everything you can to be 100% truthful and honest, so that all who deal with you can depend on you to be trustworthy. A Payroll professional who safeguards the confidential information you have access to, (and is entrusted to you), whether from management, employees or outside institutions.

Some useful tips to keep in mind:

  • Don’t be tempted to talk out of turn
  • Never divulge someone’s sensitive, private information (without their permission)
  • Never say “yes” when you know the right answer is “no”
  • Never be underhand in your words or behaviour (especially if it’s against the law, or a breach of company policy)
  • Be mindful of what you post on social media
  • Guard confidential documents carefully – don’t leave them open for prying eyes to see

As a Payroll professional, take pride in the trust your company puts in you, Trusted employeeand always act with integrity! This is an essential part of your job. Don’t let one careless mistake destroy all you have worked for. Remember, trust is EARNED, and very hard to restore once lost!

Coming next… Hat 7: The Payroll Professional as Counsellor

Payroll and Employee Tax

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Payroll and Employee Tax

To be a truly world class, long surviving payroll department, you had better have a fantastic understanding of all the elements that effect the employees net pay. The biggest of these is the tax deduction. You will be abused and sworn at if the employee is incorrectly taxed and has to pay in or pay off additional amounts to the Receiver of Revenue.

5 ways to make sure we tax our employees correctly:

  1. Start with pro forma payslip
    When the new employee start work at your company, print a pro forma payslip that details what is being paid and what is being deducted. The net pay should be highlighted and the new employee should sign that he accepts this as correct. This gives you a chance to spend time explaining the payslip to the employee and spotting any errors that may have been made
  2. The correct earnings and deductions codes must be used
    We all know that each earning and deduction has an IRP 5 code. The receiver will assess the employee based on those codes. Make sure your codes are correct or the wrong assessment can be had. Some payroll software programs have the codes automatically linked.
  3. Car allowances, company cars and subsistence allowances and cell phone allowances
    Ah yes my favourite. Forever an issue. Make sure that you understand this legislation and that the employee clearly understands what is required. Get him/her to sign the pro-forma payslip that shows the car allowance or subsistence allowance as well the company policy that clearly spells out the responsibilities of the employer and the employee. If you are unsure, then ask someone you can trust.
  4. Medical aid
    Make sure we have the right dependent entered onto the system and new borns are added.
  5. Trust in your payroll software
    Make sure you are using trusted payroll software. Excel is great for spreadsheets but not ideal for payroll. Your payroll should be processed on a professional system. The cost of not doing so could be a lot higher than you think.