The new BCEA earnings threshold (R269 600.90): what it means for your small business
5 min read
On 1 May 2026 a new Basic Conditions of Employment Act earnings threshold came into force. If you employ people in South Africa, this is one of the few labour-law numbers worth knowing off the top of your head, because it quietly decides which of your staff are entitled to overtime pay and a string of other working-time protections — and which are not.
The new figure is R269 600.90 per year — roughly R22 466.74 a month. It was set by the Minister of Employment and Labour under section 6(3) of the BCEA, in Government Notice 7384, published in Government Gazette 54544 on 17 April 2026. It replaces the previous threshold of R261 748.45.
What the threshold actually does
The threshold is a line. Employees who earn at or below R269 600.90 a year are fully covered by the BCEA's working-time rules. Employees who earn above it are excluded from those specific provisions.
The protections that fall away above the threshold are the working-time ones:
- Ordinary hours of work and overtime — including the right to be paid 1.5× for overtime
- Compressed working weeks and averaging of hours by agreement
- Meal intervals and daily and weekly rest periods
- Pay for work on Sundays and public holidays, and night-work provisions
In plain terms: if a manager earning R30 000 a month works late, you are not obliged under the BCEA to pay overtime. If an administrator earning R18 000 a month works the same late hours, you are.
What does NOT change
This is where small employers most often get the wrong idea. Crossing the threshold does not put an employee outside the law. Above-threshold staff keep:
- The right not to be unfairly dismissed. This is the big one. Every employee — from the cleaner to the financial director — has the same right to a fair reason and a fair procedure before dismissal. Earnings make no difference to your disciplinary obligations.
- Annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave and maternity leave. These sit in sections of the BCEA that the threshold does not switch off.
- Notice periods, written particulars of employment, and protection against unlawful deductions.
So the threshold reshapes your working-time duties, not your fair-process duties. A disciplinary case is run exactly the same way whether the employee earns R150 000 or R500 000 a year.
How "earnings" is measured
"Earnings" for this test means an employee's regular annual remuneration before deductions — income tax, pension and medical contributions are part of it (they are deductions from earnings, not exclusions). What is generally left out is the employer's own contributions on the employee's behalf, payments in kind, and variable extras such as overtime, subsistence and transport allowances, and discretionary achievement bonuses.
Because the edges can be fiddly — particularly where a package mixes guaranteed pay with allowances — it is worth checking a borderline employee's number carefully rather than guessing. Getting it wrong in either direction (withholding overtime that is in fact owed, or paying overtime you are not obliged to) is an avoidable cost.
What to do about it
- Identify your borderline staff. Anyone earning close to R22 466 a month should be checked against the new figure.
- Confirm overtime arrangements for anyone who has just crossed below or above the line as salaries change.
- Leave your disciplinary process untouched. It does not bend for earnings — a fair hearing is a fair hearing at every salary level.
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This article is general information about South African labour law, not legal advice. For advice on a specific situation, consult a qualified labour law practitioner.