Basic pay for employees
Workers are subject to National Minimum Wage Act and can’t earn less than R80 a day
This is a continuation of last week’s column that dealt with the terms and conditions of employment in different sectors which included the restaurant industry.
ANOTHER interesting sectoral determination is Determination No 9 for the wholesale and retail sector.
This aims to provide conditions of employment and minimum wages for employees working in the wholesale and retail sector in the Republic of South Africa. Obviously, the determination does not apply to employees who are employed in sectors already covered by any other sectoral determination. If the employees are covered by a bargaining council agreement, then they would be exempt from that determination.
Likewise, any employee who works for 24 hours or less in a month would be covered only by the minimum wages and not the determination. If the employer’s core business falls within the wholesale and retail sector or if the premises are covered by a retail business, it would apply to those employers.
The Labour Ministry sets a minimum wage which is divided into two parts – for those working more than 27 hours a week and for those who are working less. These wage tables are amended each year and are published through the Government Gazette with the employers to read and understand.
There are certain job categories which would qualify an employee to earn more than others. Where an employer allows an employee to work longer than an hour on any day in a higher category, that employee must be paid at a rate not less than that of a higher job category on that particular day. Furthermore, if an employee works for less than four hours on a day, such employee must be paid for four hours’ work on that day.
Every employee is at least subject to the National Minimum Wage Act and therefore cannot earn less than R80 a day. Certain businesses differ from others if they are in areas not covered by the determination. Commission work is applicable and a sales person may agree in writing to perform work for payment of commission on a regular basis. This employee who is employed to perform the tasks of a sales assistant must receive at least the minimum wage and the commission payments, as per the agreement.
There has to be a written agreement between the employee and the employer which must include the employee’s wage; the method by which the commission payment is to be calculated; the period over which commission payments are calculated, which may not be longer than one month; and the period when the commission payments will be made to the employee, which is not allowed to be longer than one month after the end of the period in which the employee earned the commission.
The employer has to give a copy of the agreement to the employee. Any employee earning commission would have to receive at least the amount equivalent to the prescribed minimum wage during any calculation period.
Information must be given to the employee concerning their remuneration every pay day. The payslip should contain the following information: the employer’s name and address; the employee’s name and occupation; the period in respect of which payment is being made; the employee’s wage rate and overtime rate and total number of ordinary hours worked by the employee during the payment period.
There are numerous other factors that have to be contained in the payslip, such as the details of any deductions made from the employee’s remuneration. It must be noted that employers are required to keep copies of such statements or payslips for a minimum period of three years.
An employer may not make any deductions from an employee’s remuneration unless the employee agrees to it in writing, and that deduction is a reimbursement of a debt specified in the agreement. An employer may also make a deduction to reimburse for loss or damage if it occurred in the course of the employee’s employment and was as a result of the employee’s negligence.
Furthermore, the employer must follow a fair procedure in determining that the employee was negligent. The employee must be given the opportunity to state reasons why deductions should not be made. The total amount of the debt cannot exceed the actual amount of the loss or damage suffered by the employer, and the total deductions from the employee’s remuneration cannot exceed 25% of the employee’s remuneration in terms of money received.