Staff Writer | March 11, 2025
Legal experts say the pool of “secured” employees in South Africa could expand next month, with the national revenue threshold being raised to R261,748 per year.
The revenue threshold represents the points in which employees are protected by the Basic Employment Conditions Act (BCEA) and the provisions of the Labor Relations Act (LRA) and Employment Equity Act (EEA).
Employees earning above the threshold amount to approximately R21,800 per month, but are not entitled to the specific protections given to those earning under it.
According to legal experts at Weberwentzle, the purpose of the threshold is to provide stronger protection for more vulnerable employees below the specified income.
“The increase in thresholds is a remarkable development as it could increase the number of employees entitled to stricter protections under labor laws, such as overtime salaries,” the company said.
The increase in the threshold will either fall slightly below R7,400 annually or increase 2.9% from 2024 along inflation.
While most businesses tend to increase to inflation-linked salaries each year, Webber Wentzel warned that employers who don't hike wages along inflation could potentially increase the number of employees eligible for BCEA protection.
“Employers may face economic implications as they may need to add BCEA protection for employees currently below the new threshold.”
“Employers should be aware of new thresholds to understand which employees are essential to minimizing the risk of violating the BCEA.”
Protection under the BCEA is related to regulating normal working hours, overtime, meal intervals, daily and weekly rest periods, Sunday payments, nightly pay, and public holidays payments.
Employees who acquire above the threshold are not automatically protected under these regulations and will generally need to negotiate these with their employer.
Employees who acquire above the threshold will be prevented from referring to the Settlement, Mediation and Arbitration Committee (CCMA) to unfairly discriminatory disputes under the EEA if the dispute is related to sexual harassment or unless all parties agree to arbitration.
Weberwentzel said such disputes must instead be directly referred to the Labour Court for ruling.
What is revenue?
The definition of “revenue” to calculate whether an employee falls above or below a threshold refers to the annual employee's compensation before deduction, including taxes, UIFs, medical assistance, and pension contributions.
In particular, “revenue” in this context differs from the definition of “remuneration” based on the Minister's decision on the calculation of employee compensation in terms of Section 35(5) of the BCEA, legal experts pointed out.
Additionally, “employers using “atypical” employment arrangements, such as committee-based revenue, gig revenue, or work like work/purpose, should review these arrangements to ensure ongoing compliance with the BCEA and avoid outcomes.
This adds to the new national minimum wage requirements pose a risk to employers of atypical workers.
Law firm Cliff Decker Hoffmeyer highlighted a recent lawsuit involving a company that tried to avoid paying accidental workers.
The ultimate message of this case was that employers could not implement “creative” methods of avoiding paying workers the national minimum wage.
NMW and BCEA apply to all workers, with few exceptions.
With regard to these two laws, even if the worker is always working less than four hours, or below the new revenue threshold, he must still pay four hours of work that day.
From March 2025, this corresponds to a minimum of R115.
“Disclaimer – the views and opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author and are not necessarily those of the Bee Room.”
