The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) sets the maximum working hours South African employees can be required to work. These limits exist to protect workers from exploitation and ensure minimum rest periods. Employers who exceed these limits without proper compensation are in breach of the BCEA and can face claims at the CCMA or Labour Court.
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The 45-Hour Ordinary Work Week
The BCEA limits ordinary (non-overtime) working hours to 45 hours per week. How these hours are distributed across the week depends on how many days you work:
| Work pattern | Daily ordinary hours | Weekly ordinary hours |
|---|---|---|
| 5 days per week | 9 hours per day | 45 hours |
| 6 days per week | Up to 8 hours per day | 45 hours (capped at 45) |
| Variable schedule | Spread as agreed. Ordinary hours stay within 9 (5-day week) or 8 (6-day week) a day unless a compressed-week or averaging agreement applies; ordinary plus overtime never exceeds 12 hours a day | 45 hours (averaged over a period only where a collective agreement allows, Section 12) |
Hours worked above 45 per week are overtime and must be paid at overtime rates. Below the earnings threshold, overtime must be paid at the overtime rate or compensated by time off in lieu.
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Open Calculator →Overtime Limits and Rates
Overtime is work performed beyond your ordinary hours. The BCEA sets both a cap on how much overtime can be required and a minimum rate of pay for overtime worked. Use the Overtime Pay Calculator to calculate your exact weekday, Sunday and public holiday overtime pay.
| Type of overtime | BCEA limit | Minimum pay rate |
|---|---|---|
| Weekday overtime (above 45 hrs/week) | 10 hours per week (15 by collective agreement, max 2 months/yr); no separate daily overtime cap | 1.5× ordinary hourly rate |
| Sunday work | No separate cap. Hours beyond your ordinary hours count toward the weekly overtime cap | 2× ordinary rate (or 1.5× if Sunday is your ordinary working day) |
| Public holiday work you agree to | No separate cap. Hours beyond your ordinary hours count toward the weekly overtime cap | At least double the daily wage, or the daily wage plus pay for the hours worked if that is more, on a normal working day (Section 18(2)); the daily wage plus pay for the hours worked on a day you do not normally work (Section 18(3)) |
Overtime needs your agreement (Section 10(1)(a)). The Act does not say the agreement must be in writing, though it is normally recorded in your employment contract or in a separate written agreement. Check the date of that clause: one agreed when you started, or in your first three months, lapses after one year unless renewed (Section 10(5)). Your employer cannot require or permit overtime without a current agreement, and an instruction to work overtime you never agreed to is unlawful, so refusing it is not insubordination (AMCU obo Mkhonto v CCMA [2023] ZALCJHB 23). The one exception is urgent work the employer could not reasonably have planned for and that cannot wait for ordinary hours (Section 6(2)). You cannot agree to more than 10 hours of overtime per week. There is no separate daily overtime cap under current law; the original 1997 Act's 3-hour-a-day limit was removed by the 2002 BCEA amendment, though the 12-hour total-daily-hours limit (ordinary plus overtime) still applies.
Instead of paying 1.5× for overtime, an employer may offer time off in lieu (TOIL): either at least 90 minutes of paid time off for every overtime hour worked, or the ordinary wage for that hour plus at least 30 minutes of paid time off. The time off must be given within one month, or within up to 12 months by written agreement. TOIL also needs your agreement.
The BCEA Earnings Threshold: Who It Protects
Not all BCEA protections apply to all employees. Employees earning above the BCEA earnings threshold (R269,600.90 per year from 1 May 2026) are excluded from the BCEA's rules on ordinary hours, overtime, the compressed-week and hours-averaging arrangements (agreements to work longer daily hours, or to spread hours over more than a week), meal breaks, rest periods, Sunday pay, the night work allowance rule and the Section 18(3) public holiday rule. Those terms are set by their contracts instead. Below the threshold, the Act's minimums apply, and an agreement can only vary them where the Act itself allows.
If you earn above the threshold, check what your employment contract says about hours and overtime, because the Act's minimums no longer set those terms.
Meal Breaks and Rest Periods
The BCEA requires specific breaks during and between shifts:
- Meal break: At least 60 continuous minutes if you work more than 5 hours continuously. A written agreement can reduce it to 30 minutes, or remove it if you work fewer than 6 hours that day.
- Daily rest: At least 12 continuous hours between the end of one shift and the start of the next.
- Weekly rest: At least 36 continuous hours per week, which must include Sunday unless otherwise agreed.
A meal break is unpaid only if you are free of duty during it. You must be paid for it if you are required to work or be available during it, and for any part longer than 75 minutes (unless you live on the premises). Daily and weekly rest periods are time off, so they do not count toward your 45-hour ordinary week.
Both rest periods can be varied by written agreement: daily rest can be reduced to 10 continuous hours for an employee who lives on the employer's premises and has a meal break of at least 3 hours, and weekly rest can instead be given as 60 hours every 2 weeks, or reduced by up to 8 hours in one week if the following week's rest is extended by the same amount.
Night Work
Night work is defined as work performed between 18:00 and 06:00. Night work needs your agreement. If you work at night, your employer must:
- Pay you an allowance for working at night, or reduce your working hours
- Make sure transport is available between your home and your workplace at the start and end of your shift
A further duty applies only if you work night shifts regularly, meaning more than one hour after 23:00 and before 06:00 at least 5 times a month or 50 times a year: your employer must tell you about the health and safety risks involved, on request arrange medical examinations at its cost, and, if it is practicable for your employer to do so and an examination finds your health is affected by the night work, transfer you to suitable day work within a reasonable time.
Compressed Work Weeks
By written agreement, an employer and employee may compress the work week, working fewer days but longer hours each day. The limits are:
- Up to 12 hours a day without overtime pay for the agreed hours
- No more than 45 ordinary hours a week, no more than 10 hours of overtime a week, and no more than 5 working days a week
Compressed work weeks can suit shift-based sectors such as healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing. Some compressed-week agreements include a review clause, such as a yearly review and a notice period to go back to the standard week. The BCEA does not set those terms itself, so check your agreement.
Public Holidays
South Africa has 12 public holidays. If a public holiday falls on a day you would normally work and you do not work, you are entitled to a full day's pay. If you agree to work on it, you must be paid at least double your daily wage for that day (or your daily wage plus pay for the hours worked, if that is more), under Section 18(2). If it falls on a day you do not normally work, you are paid your daily wage plus pay for the hours you work (Section 18(3)). Public holidays falling on a Sunday are observed the following Monday.
Domestic Workers and Farm Workers
Domestic workers are covered by the BCEA and Sectoral Determination 7, which provides specific hourly, overtime, and rest provisions tailored to live-in and live-out domestic workers. Farm workers are similarly covered by Sectoral Determination 13. See our Domestic Worker Rights guide for more detail.