Domestic Worker Rights in South Africa: Pay, Leave and UIF (2026)

South Africa employs more than 900,000 registered domestic workers, and many more who remain unregistered, without UIF cover or written employment contracts. The legal framework protecting domestic workers is clear and comprehensive, but it only works when both employers and employees understand what it requires. This guide covers everything: minimum pay, UIF obligations, leave entitlements, overtime, accommodation deductions, and the written contract every domestic worker is entitled to receive.

The Legal Framework: Sectoral Determination 7

Domestic workers in South Africa are protected by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), Act 75 of 1997 and specifically by Sectoral Determination 7 (SD7), which was gazetted under the BCEA to address the unique conditions of domestic employment. SD7 sets minimum wages, working hours, leave entitlements, accommodation rules and other conditions specific to this sector.

A domestic worker is broadly defined as any person employed to perform domestic work in a private household, including live-in housekeepers, daily cleaners, gardeners, nannies, au pairs, drivers employed by the household, and caregivers for family members. Part-time and casual domestic workers are equally covered.

Minimum Wage for Domestic Workers in 2026

Prior to 2022, domestic workers had a separate, lower minimum wage than other workers. That gap was closed: domestic workers now earn the full National Minimum Wage of R30.23 per hour from 1 March 2026, identical to any other employee in the country.

Monthly figures use four and one-third weeks per month (SD7 clause 4). These are gross amounts. UIF (1%) is deducted before the worker receives their pay, and PAYE may apply for higher earners (though most domestic workers earn below the R99,000 annual tax threshold).

UIF: Compulsory for Every Domestic Worker

UIF registration is not optional. Since 2003, the Unemployment Insurance Amendment Act has required every employer of a domestic worker to register with the UIF and make monthly contributions. This is one of the most commonly ignored obligations in South African domestic employment, and one of the most consequential if missed.

How UIF contributions work

How to register and pay

1. Register the domestic worker at uFiling, the Department of Employment and Labour’s employer portal, or at any Labour Centre
2. Each month, deduct 1% from the worker's wage
3. Add your own 1% employer contribution
4. Pay the combined 2% via uFiling, EFT or at a Labour Centre by the 7th

What UIF covers for domestic workers

A domestic worker who has been contributing to UIF can claim:

• Unemployment benefits: if dismissed or retrenched (first 238 credit days at your IRR rate, then a flat 20% for any remaining credit days up to 365, not forfeited)
• Illness benefits: if unable to work due to illness for seven days or more
• Maternity/parental benefits: the UIF Act's flat-66%-of-income, 121-day maximum structure is still on the books as written, but how it applies now that the underlying BCEA leave is a shared 4-months-and-10-days entitlement between two employed parents (not the birth mother's benefit alone) is a question the Constitutional Court left unresolved, see below
• Dependent's benefits: payable to a surviving spouse or dependent if the contributor dies

Annual Leave, Sick Leave and Family Responsibility Leave

Domestic workers are entitled to the same leave rights as all other employees under the BCEA and SD7:

A domestic worker's maternity/parental leave rights changed materially on 3 October 2025, when the Constitutional Court's Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour [2025] ZACC 20 struck down the old birth-mother-only 4-month entitlement as unconstitutional discrimination. Domestic workers are covered by the BCEA the same as any other employee, so this applies to them in full: where a domestic worker and their co-parent are both employed, they now share a combined 4 months and 10 days of leave between them, divided as they choose. A single parent gets the full amount individually. The leave remains unpaid by the employer, and UIF is the only income replacement, but the Court specifically declined to set an interim rule for how the UIF Act's benefit mechanics apply to this new shared structure, leaving that to Parliament within a 36-month window. See our Maternity & Parental Leave guide for the full mechanics and what's still unresolved.

Annual leave is three weeks per 12 months; by agreement it can instead accrue at 1 day for every 17 days worked. An employer cannot require a domestic worker to forfeit accrued leave or pay them cash instead of granting time off, except on termination, where any outstanding accrued leave must be paid out.

Overtime, Sundays and Public Holidays

Domestic workers are entitled to the full BCEA overtime rates. There are no reduced rates for household employment:

• Weekday / Saturday overtime (beyond ordinary hours): 1.5× normal hourly rate
• Sunday work (where Sunday is not an ordinary work day): 2× normal hourly rate
• Public holiday work (on a day they would normally work): at least double the daily wage; on a day they would not normally work, pay is the daily wage plus the hourly rate for each hour worked (SD7 clause 18)

At the R30.23 minimum wage, the 1.5× overtime rate is R45.35 per hour and the 2× rate for a Sunday that is not an ordinary work day is R60.46 per hour. Overtime must be agreed with the domestic worker and cannot simply be demanded (Sectoral Determination 7, clause 11); the determination does not require that agreement to be in writing, though the written particulars of employment must state the overtime rate.

Working hours limits

Domestic workers may not work more than 45 ordinary hours per week and not more than 9 ordinary hours per day on a 5-day week (or 8 hours per day on a 6-day week). Overtime is capped at 15 hours per week under Sectoral Determination 7, a higher weekly limit than the general BCEA sector's 10-hour cap, with no separate daily overtime cap, and a maximum of 12 total hours in any single day, including overtime.

Accommodation Deductions

If you provide free or subsidised accommodation to a live-in domestic worker, you are permitted to deduct a maximum of 10% of the worker's gross wage for the accommodation benefit, and only if the accommodation is weatherproof and in good condition, with a window, a lockable door and a toilet and a bath or shower if there is no other bathroom. Sectoral Determination 7 does not require a written agreement for this deduction. The deduction:

• Is best recorded in the written employment particulars, so both sides know what was agreed
• May only come off a wage that already meets R30.23 an hour, because the room never counts toward the minimum wage (National Minimum Wage Act, section 5)
• Applies only to accommodation actually provided, not to transport or meals
• Cannot exceed 10% of gross pay regardless of the market value of the accommodation

The Written Contract Obligation

SD7 requires every employer to provide a domestic worker with written particulars of employment before or on the first day of employment. A verbal agreement does not comply. The written particulars must include at minimum:

• Full name and address of the employer and employee
• Job title and brief description of duties
• Date of commencement of employment
• Ordinary hours of work per day and per week
• Hourly, daily or monthly wage rate
• Pay interval (weekly, fortnightly or monthly)
• Overtime rate and arrangements
• Leave entitlements
• Notice period
• Accommodation arrangements and any deductions to be made

The employer must keep a signed copy. If a dispute arises and there is no written contract, the employer is assumed to be the party at fault.

Payslip and Record-Keeping Requirements

Under Section 33 of the BCEA, every employer must provide a written payslip on each pay date. For a domestic worker this means a document, however simple, that shows:

• Employer name and address
• Worker name and occupation
• Pay period and date of payment
• Ordinary and overtime hours worked
• Gross remuneration and all deductions itemised (UIF, accommodation, etc.)
• Net amount paid

A payslip does not need to be printed. A WhatsApp message listing all the required details has been accepted by the CCMA as sufficient in certain cases, though a physical or email document is strongly preferable.

Frequently Asked Questions