National Minimum Wage Alert

10 April 2018

The Department of Labour is urging employers to apply for an exemption before the implementation process commences.  The proposed implementation date is less than a month away and employers are advised to apply for an exemption with the Department of Labour as a matter of urgency. What is the National Minimum Wage and how will it affect you?  The National Minimum Wage is set at R20 an hour. This amount will be reviewed annually and will be applicable to all sectors excluding the following:

• Farm/Forestry Workers: R18 per hour;
• Domestic Workers: R15 per hour;
• Workers on the Expanded Public Works Programme: R11 per hour; and
• Learners will have a separate arrangement.

How do you go about to apply for the exemption? The Labour Department’s Deputy Director (Mathilda Bergmann) explained that ‘exemptions can only be granted if every representative trade union/workers have been meaningfully consulted and all the required information by the system has been provided.’ Furthermore, employers must make sure that they provide their employees with a copy of the application form (which will be attainable from the system) and employers must make sure that a copy is displayed at the workplace accessible for all employees to read.