Labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant, recently announced new minimum wage rates for domestic workers, effective from December 1. The wage adjustment is part of an annual binding determination made by the Minister in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
From December 1, the minimum wage of those working more than 27 hours a week in metropolitan areas will be R9.63 an hour, while that of their rural and small-town counterparts will be R8.30. Metropolitan areas are defined as all urban areas within municipalities. Rural areas are those not falling into these city boundaries.
The Labour Department meanwhile cautioned that, in terms of the law, a domestic worker could not be made to work more than 45 hours a week; more than nine hours a day for a five-day work week; or more than eight hours a day for a six-day work week. They are, however, allowed to exceed these hours if overtime is paid at one-and-a-half times the employee’s normal wage, or when an employee agrees to receive paid time off.