CONTRACTS MADE EASY
A contract doesn’t have to be a hassle. Download an example from the department of labour’s website (labour.gov.za) and use it to draw up your own contract. It must contain the following information:
▶ Addresses and personal information (full names and ID numbers) of employer and employee, as well as the address where the work is to be done.
▶ Working hours and days (see the numbers box for legal requirements).
▶ The date of employment commencement and the contract term if the employment is for a specific length of time, such as six months.
▶ Wages – how much, when it’s to be paid and what’s included, such as accommodation or travel (see Get Help Here for more on wages).
▶ Remuneration for overtime, Sundays and public holidays. Domestic staff may not work overtime more than three hours a day or 10 hours a week, and must be paid at least 1,5 times their hourly wage for overtime worked. Alternatively, you can give time off in lieu of overtime payment – but the employee has to agree to this arrangement beforehand.
▶ Working on Sundays isn’t compulsory and a worker must be paid double their hourly wage for it. But if someone usually works on Sundays they must be paid 1,5 times their usual hourly wage. If they work on public holidays they must be paid double the usual hourly wage.
▶ Annual leave. Employees should receive the same pay for days they’re on annual leave as when they’re at work. Annual leave may not be less than 21 days for full-time employees, or one day’s leave for every 17 days worked, or one hour off for every 17 hours worked. You may not pay an employee instead of giving them leave – you may only do this if they’ve been fired and still have leave due to them. Leave may also not be given later than six months after the end of the annual leave cycle (a leave cycle is the 12 months following the start date of employment).
▶ The employee’s job description and details of their responsibilities. ▶ Notice periods. Either of you can end the agreement with one week’s notice within the first six months, after which you must give four weeks’ notice. Notice must be given in writing, except when the person is illiterate, in which case it can be given verbally.