BCEA Self-Assessment (Basic Conditions of Employment)

1. If you use contractors, freelancers or labour-only workers, have you checked each of them against the Act's presumption of employment (controlled hours or manner of work, part of your organisation, 40 or more hours a month for three months, economic dependence, your tools, or one client only)?

If any one of the factors applies, the person is presumed to be an employee until you prove otherwise. (BCEA s83A)

1. Do ordinary hours stay within 45 hours a week, and within nine hours a day for people working five days or fewer, or eight hours a day for people working more than five days?

(BCEA s9)

2. Is overtime worked only by agreement, kept within 10 hours a week and 12 hours on any day (ordinary hours and overtime together), and paid at 1.5 times normal pay or replaced by paid time off by agreement?

A collective agreement can allow up to 15 hours a week of overtime for up to two months in any 12-month period. (BCEA s10)

3. If you use a compressed working week or averaging of hours, is it set out in a written agreement (or collective agreement for averaging) within the limits of the Act?

A compressed week allows up to 12 hours a day within 45 ordinary hours, 10 overtime hours and five days a week. Averaging can run up to four months. (BCEA s11, s12)

4. Do employees get a 60-minute meal interval after five hours of work (or 30 minutes, or none for people working fewer than six hours a day, if agreed in writing)?

(BCEA s14)

5. Do employees get a daily rest of 12 consecutive hours and a weekly rest of 36 consecutive hours, which includes Sunday unless agreed otherwise?

(BCEA s15)

6. Is Sunday work paid at double pay if it is occasional, or 1.5 times pay if it is part of the person's ordinary work (or replaced by paid time off by agreement)?

(BCEA s16)

7. Are public holidays paid, and is work on a public holiday done only by agreement and paid at double the normal rate?

(BCEA s18)

8. For work between 18h00 and 06h00, do employees get an allowance or reduced hours, and is transport available between home and work?

(BCEA s17)

9. For people who regularly work after 23h00 and before 06h00, have you told them about the health and safety hazards, and about their right to a medical examination?

(BCEA s17)

1. Do employees get 21 consecutive days of annual leave per leave cycle (or one day for every 17 days worked, or one hour for every 17 hours worked, by agreement)?

(BCEA s20)

2. Is annual leave granted within six months after the end of the leave cycle, and never paid out instead of leave except when employment ends?

(BCEA s20, s21)

3. Do employees get paid sick leave equal to six weeks in a 36-month cycle (and one day for every 26 days worked in the first six months)?

(BCEA s22)

4. Do you ask for a medical certificate only where the Act allows: for absence of more than two consecutive days, or after frequent absences?

(BCEA s23)

5. Do pregnant employees get four consecutive months of maternity leave, and are pregnant and nursing employees kept away from work that is hazardous to them or the child?

(BCEA s25, s26)

6. Do employees get at least 10 consecutive days of parental leave when a child is born, and adoption or commissioning parental leave of at least 10 consecutive weeks where those provisions apply?

In force from 1 January 2020. Employees can claim parental benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. (BCEA s25A, s25B, s25C)

7. Do full-time employees get three days of paid family responsibility leave a year (for example for the birth or illness of a child, or the death of a close family member), with reasonable proof allowed?

(BCEA s27)

8. When employment ends, do you pay out all leave still owing?

(BCEA s40)

1. Does every employee get written particulars of employment when they start: employer's name and address, the employee's name and occupation, place of work, start date, hours and days of work, wage and how it is calculated, overtime rate, other cash and in-kind pay, pay frequency, deductions, leave, notice period, any council or sectoral determination, prior service that counts, and other documents forming part of the contract?

(BCEA s29)

2. Do you revise the written particulars whenever the terms of employment change?

(BCEA s29)

3. Is the statement of employees' rights displayed at the workplace in the official languages used there?

(BCEA s30)

4. Do you keep a wages register and an attendance register (or records with the same information)?

(BCEA s31, Regulation 3)

5. Do you record the date of birth of any employee under 18?

(BCEA s31)

6. Do you keep these records for three years from the date of the last entry in the record?

(BCEA s31(2))

1. Does every payment come with written details: employer's name and address, the employee's name and occupation, pay period, remuneration, deductions, the amount actually paid, and where relevant rates and ordinary, overtime, Sunday and public holiday hours?

(BCEA s33)

2. Do you avoid requiring anyone to pay to be employed or allocated work, or to buy goods or services from you or someone you nominate?

(BCEA s33A)

3. Do you make deductions from pay only where the employee agreed in writing to a specific debt, or where a law, court order, collective agreement or arbitration award allows it?

(BCEA s34)

4. Before deducting for damage or loss, do you follow a fair procedure, including a chance for the employee to respond?

(BCEA s34)

5. Do you pay over deductions and your contributions to benefit funds within seven days?

(BCEA s34A)

6. Do you calculate wages from hours ordinarily worked, convert weekly to monthly pay by four and one-third, and use the preceding 13 weeks for pay that varies a lot?

(BCEA s35)

1. Do you and your employees give written notice of at least one week (employed six months or less), two weeks (more than six months, up to a year) or four weeks (a year or more, or a farm or domestic worker employed more than six months)?

(BCEA s37)

2. Do you pay severance of at least one week's pay for each completed year of service when you dismiss for operational reasons?

(BCEA s41)

3. Do you give every employee a certificate of service when employment ends?

(BCEA s42)

1. Do you make sure nobody under 15 is employed, and that people under 18 are not given work that is unsuitable for their age or puts them at risk?

Requiring or permitting a child under 15 to work is a criminal offence. (BCEA s43 to s47)

2. Do you make sure nobody is made to work through forced labour?

(BCEA s48)

3. Do you give labour inspectors the records and answers they lawfully ask for, and comply with any compliance order?

(BCEA s64 to s73, s92)

4. Do you make sure nobody is treated worse because they exercised their rights under the Act?

(BCEA s78 to s81)