Notice Period Calculator South Africa
Find out your minimum notice period under BCEA Section 37, for resignation or retrenchment. Includes notice pay value and last working day estimate.
Under the BCEA, statutory minimum notice is 1 week if employed 6 months or less; 2 weeks if employed more than 6 months but less than 1 year; 4 weeks if employed 1 year or more. Employment contracts may specify longer notice, which then applies instead of the BCEA minimum.
This calculator works out your statutory minimum notice period under the BCEA, the rand value of that notice, and your estimated last working day, whether you're resigning, being retrenched or managing an employee's exit.
Enter Your Details
Enter your salary and length of service to calculate your notice period and pay value.
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How to Use This Calculator
Enter your salary and employment type
Enter your monthly gross salary and select standard, domestic or farm worker. This affects which BCEA notice tier applies.
Enter your length of service
Enter completed years and any additional months with your current employer. The calculator applies the correct BCEA Section 37 notice tier automatically.
Select your contract notice period, if longer
If your employment contract specifies a longer notice period than the BCEA minimum, select it. The longer of the two always applies.
Enter your notice date to see your last working day
Notice pay = monthly salary × 12 ÷ 52 × notice weeks. Your last working day is calculated using 7 calendar days per week, counted from the day after you give notice.
Notice periods in South Africa: what the BCEA says
Notice periods in South Africa are governed by Section 37 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). This section applies to all terminations of employment, whether the employee resigns, is retrenched or is dismissed for any other reason. It sets the minimum notice that either party must give the other before the employment relationship ends.
A critical point many employees miss: the BCEA notice period applies equally to both the employer and the employee. If your contract says you must give 4 weeks notice, your employer must also give you 4 weeks notice before terminating your employment. Section 37(3) is explicit on this: no agreement may require you to give a longer period of notice than your employer is bound to give you.
The BCEA minimum notice table
| Length of service | Minimum notice (standard employee) | Domestic / farm worker |
|---|---|---|
| 6 months or less | 1 week | 1 week |
| More than 6 months, less than 1 year | 2 weeks | 4 weeks |
| 1 year or more | 4 weeks | 4 weeks |
Note that domestic workers and farm workers who have been employed for more than 6 months are entitled to 4 weeks notice, the same as an employee with over 1 year of service. This provides extra protection for workers in these sectors.
The Act's own wording technically overlaps at exactly one year of service: Section 37(1)(b) covers "more than six months but not more than one year" (2 weeks) and Section 37(1)(c) covers "one year or more" (4 weeks). This calculator treats exactly one year as the full 4-week minimum, the safer reading for the employee.
Notice must be in writing, with one exception
Section 37(4)(a) requires notice of termination to be given in writing, except when the notice is given by an illiterate employee, who may give it verbally. Section 37(4)(b) adds the reverse protection: if an employee who receives notice cannot understand it, the employer must have it explained to them orally, in an official language the employee reasonably understands. This is a common gap in resignation letters and dismissal notices alike, and it is a real requirement, not just good practice.
Step-by-step notice period calculation
An employee earns R22,000 per month, has worked for 3 years and 5 months and hands in their resignation on 1 June 2026. Their contract specifies no additional notice period beyond the BCEA minimum.
Step 1: determine the BCEA notice tier
Step 2: calculate weekly rate
Step 3: calculate notice pay value
Step 4: calculate last working day
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| Length of service | 3 years 5 months |
| BCEA notice tier | 1 year or more → 4 weeks |
| Weekly rate | R 5,076.92 |
| Notice pay (4 weeks) | R 20,307.69 |
| Notice start | 1 June 2026 |
| Last working day | 29 June 2026 |
Payment in lieu of notice
Section 38(1) of the BCEA lets an employer pay an employee instead of requiring them to work their notice period. The payment must equal the remuneration the employee would have earned had they actually worked through the notice period, calculated the same way as normal pay under Section 35. This is known as payment in lieu of notice.
Payment in lieu of notice is common during retrenchments, where the employer wants the employee to leave on the retrenchment date rather than work a further 4 weeks. It is also used when an employee has access to sensitive information that the employer does not want them to continue accessing during a notice period. If it's the employee who resigns and the employer waives part of the notice period, Section 38(2) still requires that waived portion to be paid out, unless employer and employee agree otherwise.
Importantly, notice pay is taxed as normal income at your marginal PAYE rate, whether worked or paid in lieu. It does not qualify for the favourable retirement lump sum tax treatment that applies to the severance component of a retrenchment package. Use our severance pay calculator to work that out separately.
Contract notice periods: when they override the BCEA
Many employment contracts specify notice periods longer than the BCEA minimum, particularly for managerial, professional or senior roles. Common examples are 1 month, 2 months or 3 months notice. These contractual periods are valid and binding on both parties.
A few critical rules apply when a contract specifies a longer notice period:
- The longer period must apply equally to both the employer and the employee. The employer cannot require 3 months notice from you while only giving you 4 weeks
- A contract can never reduce the notice period below the BCEA minimum, only increase it
- By agreement, a collective agreement may reduce the 4-week notice to no less than 2 weeks, but this requires a formal collective agreement, not just an individual employment contract
Can you be given notice during leave?
No. BCEA Section 37(5)(a) prohibits an employer from giving notice of termination during any period of leave to which the employee is entitled under Chapter Three of the Act. This includes annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave and family responsibility leave. The Act does not say what happens to a notice given in breach of this rule, so if this happens to you, object to your employer in writing straight away.
Section 37(5) only governs notice given under Section 37 itself. The Labour Court has held it does not stop a dismissal that follows a disciplinary hearing held while the employee is on leave, because that dismissal is "for a cause recognised by law" under Section 37(6)(b) (Raleie v CCMA [2021] ZALCJHB 409), though holding the hearing while the employee is on medical leave can still make the dismissal procedurally unfair under the Labour Relations Act.
A separate rule in Section 37(5)(b) covers what happens if notice was already validly running before the leave started: that notice may not run concurrently with annual leave, maternity leave or family responsibility leave, so those days effectively pause the notice clock. Sick leave is the one exception. If an employee already serving notice then takes sick leave, the notice period keeps running through it rather than being extended, unlike every other type of Chapter Three leave.
An employer also may not require or permit an employee to take annual leave during the notice period, under Section 20(5)(b), and the Act states no exception. This is one of the more frequently violated BCEA provisions, particularly at year-end when employers try to run out employees' leave during their notice period.
What happens if you don't serve your full notice period?
If you resign but don't work your full statutory or contractual notice period, your employer cannot simply deduct the shortfall from your final pay. Section 34 of the BCEA prohibits deductions from remuneration unless you've consented in writing, or the deduction is required by law, a court order, an arbitration award or a collective agreement, and an unserved notice period isn't one of those listed grounds.
Some employers ask departing employees to sign a written consent to a deduction; without that consent, their only real remedy is a civil claim for damages, and even then they'd need to prove an actual quantified loss, such as the cost of an emergency temporary replacement. If your employer terminates you without requiring you to work notice (a common practice to protect sensitive information or client relationships), you're still entitled to be paid for the full notice period even though you don't physically work it.
What counts toward your notice pay: the Section 35(5) exclusions
Notice pay is calculated the same way as ordinary pay under BCEA Section 35, and Section 35(5) specifically sets out what "remuneration" includes and excludes for this purpose. It includes your basic salary and the cash value of any payment in kind you'd otherwise receive. It excludes gratuities, any allowance paid specifically to enable you to work (a travel or cellphone allowance, for example), and discretionary payments not tied to your hours of work or performance, such as an occasional ex-gratia bonus. If your "gross salary" includes items like these, your actual statutory notice pay may be lower than a simple gross-salary calculation suggests. This calculator uses the salary figure you enter as the base, so enter your basic salary plus any guaranteed, non-discretionary allowances for the most accurate result.