BCEA earnings threshold checker

This checker tells you which side of the BCEA earnings threshold you fall on. That single line decides whether the law caps your working hours, whether you must be paid for overtime, whether Sunday work earns a premium, whether working a public holiday on your day off earns the statutory rate, and even which forum hears certain disputes. Many people only discover the threshold exists when they ask for overtime pay and are told they do not qualify. This tool lets you check before that conversation.

It is for employees at or near the threshold, for anyone weighing an increase that would take them over it, and for small employers who want to apply the right rules. The threshold is set by the Minister by notice and changes most years; the checker reads the current figure from a dated rate table.

What this calculator works out and who it is for

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 lets the Minister of Employment and Labour fix an earnings threshold under section 6(3). Employees earning more than the threshold are excluded from most of the working-time provisions in chapter two of the Act. Those are the sections that cap ordinary hours at 45 a week, that require overtime to be paid at one and a half times, that set the Sunday premium and the rate for working a public holiday on a day you would not ordinarily work, that require meal intervals and rest periods, and that require a night work allowance and transport. The paid public holiday, and double pay for working one on a normal working day, still apply above the threshold.

The checker asks for your regular monthly pay before deductions and then for three amounts that might be hidden inside it: subsistence and transport allowances, overtime pay, and the employer's contributions to your pension, provident or medical scheme. It strips out what the Minister's definition excludes, annualises the result, and compares it with the threshold. You get a plain answer, above or below, the margin, and a description of what that means for you.

Employers use it too. Treating an employee as above the threshold when they are below it means unpaid overtime that is recoverable, and a labour inspector can issue a compliance order for it.

How the calculation works

The word "earnings" has a specific meaning in the Minister's notice, and it is narrower than your total cost to company. Earnings means the regular annual remuneration before deductions such as income tax, pension, medical aid and similar payments, but excluding similar payments made by the employer in respect of the employee. Subsistence and transport allowances, achievement awards and payments for overtime worked are excluded from remuneration for this purpose.

So the checker starts from your regular gross monthly pay, subtracts any subsistence and transport allowances and any overtime pay that were included in it, and multiplies by twelve. The employer's contributions are shown on a separate line because people often count them, but they are not added. The result is compared with the threshold of R269 600.90 a year, in force from 1 May 2026. If your annual earnings as defined are higher, you are above; if not, you are below.

The checker also flags when you are within five per cent of the line either way, because an increase or the next adjustment of the threshold can move you across it and change your entitlements overnight.

What is included matters as much as what is excluded. A regular guaranteed thirteenth cheque, a fixed car allowance that is not a travel reimbursement, and a housing allowance are generally regular remuneration and count. Commission earned regularly counts, though its variability can make the answer uncertain. Discretionary bonuses that depend on performance are closer to achievement awards and are commonly treated as excluded, but this is an area where the notice is less than precise and the checker takes the figures you give it.

The law behind the numbers

Section 6(3) of the BCEA gives the Minister the power to exclude employees earning above a stated amount from any or all of the provisions in chapter two. The current notice excludes employees above the threshold from sections 9 (ordinary hours of work), 10 (overtime), 11 (compressed working week), 12 (averaging of hours), 14 (meal intervals), 15 (daily and weekly rest periods), 16 (pay for work on Sundays), 17(2) (transport and night-shift allowances) and 18(3) (pay for work on a public holiday that falls on a day you would not ordinarily work).

Three things follow for an employee above the threshold. First, the Act does not cap your hours or require overtime pay; what you get is a matter for your contract, and a contract that says nothing means no premium. Second, the Sunday premium in section 16 does not apply, and the public holiday rule in section 18(3) does not either, although section 18(2), which deals with a public holiday that falls on a day you would ordinarily work, still does. Third, section 73A of the Act, which lets an employee refer a claim for unpaid amounts to the CCMA, applies only to employees earning below the threshold, so a higher earner's claim for unpaid salary goes to the Labour Court or an ordinary civil court instead.

The same threshold is used by two other statutes. Under the Labour Relations Act, the protections for employees of temporary employment services, employees on fixed-term contracts and part-time employees in sections 198A to 198C apply only to employees earning below the threshold; above it, a fixed-term contract of any length is not deemed indefinite. Under the Employment Equity Act, an employee earning above the threshold must refer an unfair discrimination dispute to the Labour Court rather than to CCMA arbitration, unless the parties agree to arbitration or the claim is sexual harassment.

Below the threshold, the whole of chapter two applies. That means ordinary hours capped at 45 a week and nine a day on a five-day week, overtime limited to ten hours a week and paid at one and a half times or compensated by paid time off, Sunday work at double or one and a half times, public holiday pay at double, a meal interval after five hours, and twelve hours of rest a day and 36 hours a week.

What does not depend on the threshold is worth saying plainly. Annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave and parental leave, notice periods, severance pay, the rules on deductions, written particulars of employment and the right to a payslip apply to everyone. So does the whole of the Labour Relations Act: an employee above the threshold can still be unfairly dismissed and can still refer that dispute to the CCMA.

Worked example

Sipho earns a gross salary of R21 500 a month. His payslip shows a travel allowance of R1 200 inside that figure, and last month he was paid R900 in overtime. His employer contributes R1 800 a month to his provident fund.

The checker takes R21 500, subtracts the R1 200 travel allowance and the R900 overtime, and arrives at R19 400 of monthly earnings as defined. Annualised, that is R232 800. The employer's R1 800 provident contribution is listed but not added. Compared with the threshold of R269 600.90, Sipho is below by R36 800.90, so chapter two applies to him in full. His overtime must be paid at one and a half times, his ordinary hours are capped at 45, and he can take a claim for unpaid overtime to the CCMA under section 73A.

Now suppose Sipho is offered an increase to R24 000 a month with the same allowance. Earnings as defined become R22 800 a month or R273 600 a year, which is above the threshold by R3 999.10. The increase is R2 500 a month. If he regularly works five hours of overtime a week, that overtime at one and a half times his hourly rate is worth around R4 000 a month to him, and he would lose the right to it. The checker's five per cent warning is there for exactly this moment: the increase that takes you over the line can leave you worse off.

What the calculator does not include

It does not decide for you whether a particular payment is regular remuneration or an excluded award. The Minister's notice gives categories, not a list, and the treatment of commission, discretionary bonuses and some allowances can be argued either way. The checker uses the figures you give it.

It does not account for a bargaining council agreement or sectoral determination that gives working-time rights to employees above the threshold. Those agreements can be more generous than the Act, and some are.

It does not apply the other exclusions from chapter two. Senior managerial employees, sales staff who travel and regulate their own hours, and employees who work less than 24 hours a month are excluded whatever they earn. If you are a senior manager earning below the threshold, chapter two still does not apply to you.

It does not track the threshold's history. If you are checking an old claim, the figure that applied at the time is what matters, and the threshold has been raised most years.

When to get advice

If you are below the threshold and not being paid overtime or Sunday premiums, write to your employer with the arithmetic and ask for the arrears. If that fails, a labour inspector can issue a compliance order and a section 73A referral to the CCMA is free. Keep your own hours record from now on.

Get advice if your pay is made up of variable components and the answer depends on how they are classified, if you are being offered an increase that would move you across the threshold and want to negotiate an overtime arrangement into the contract first, or if your employer is treating you as above the threshold on the strength of a cost-to-company figure that includes its own contributions. That last error is common and is worth having corrected in writing.

Employers should get advice before restructuring pay to push employees over the threshold. A salary structured to avoid overtime obligations can be examined, and if the "allowance" that pushes earnings up is really ordinary pay, it counts anyway.

Frequently asked questions

What is the earnings threshold right now? The earnings threshold is R269 600.90 a year, in force from 1 May 2026. It is set by notice under section 6(3) of the BCEA and is adjusted most years.

Does my employer's pension contribution count towards my earnings? No. Earnings means your regular remuneration before deductions, but payments the employer makes on your behalf to pension, provident or medical schemes are excluded. Your own contributions, which are deducted from your pay, are part of your earnings.

I earn above the threshold. Can my employer make me work unlimited hours? The Act's hours limits do not apply to you, so the ceiling is your contract and the general duty to provide a safe working environment. You still have every other protection in the Act and in the Labour Relations Act.

I earn above the threshold. Do I get paid for public holidays? You are still paid for a public holiday that falls on a day you would ordinarily work, and still get at least double if you work it, because section 18(2) is not excluded. The special rule for a public holiday on a day you would not ordinarily work does not apply to you.

Does the threshold affect fixed-term contracts? Yes. Below the threshold, a fixed-term contract longer than three months without a justifiable reason is deemed indefinite under the Labour Relations Act. Above it, that protection does not apply.

Does the threshold affect my unfair dismissal rights? No. Unfair dismissal protection under the Labour Relations Act applies to all employees, and the CCMA hears those disputes regardless of earnings.

I am just below the threshold and have been offered an increase. What should I do? Use the checker on the new figure. If it takes you over, work out what your overtime and Sunday premiums are worth and ask for an overtime clause in the new contract before you accept.