Working hours compliance checker

This checker takes a week's roster and tests it against every working-time limit in chapter two of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. It does not give you a single verdict, because the limits are separate rules that are breached and fixed separately. It gives you seven checks, each marked within limit or breach, and for each breach a plain statement of what the Act requires and how the gap is usually closed.

It is for employees who suspect their hours are unlawful but cannot point to the rule, for shop stewards and shift leaders who draw up rosters, and for small employers who want to check a roster before it goes up on the wall. The limits are written into the Act rather than set by notice, so they change rarely, but the checker still reads them from a rate table so that an amendment is applied in one place.

What this calculator works out and who it is for

You enter whether you work a five-day or six-day week, the ordinary hours rostered in the week, the length of your longest day including any overtime, the overtime hours in the week, the length of your meal interval on a full day and whether a shorter one has been agreed in writing, the shortest rest between one shift ending and the next starting, and the longest unbroken rest in the week.

The checker returns seven lines. Ordinary hours a week against the 45-hour limit. Your longest day against the daily ordinary limit of nine hours on a five-day week or eight on a six-day week. Overtime against the ten-hour weekly cap. Your longest day against the twelve-hour absolute limit. Your meal interval against the sixty-minute requirement, or thirty if you have agreed that in writing. Your daily rest against the twelve consecutive hours the Act requires. Your weekly rest against the 36 consecutive hours the Act requires. The headline counts the breaches.

Chapter two does not apply to everyone. Employees earning above the earnings threshold, senior managerial employees, sales staff who travel and regulate their own hours, and employees who work less than 24 hours a month are excluded. Emergency work is also excused from several limits. If you are in one of those groups, the checker's results describe the rules your colleagues have, not yours.

How the calculation works

Each check compares one figure you entered with one limit from the rate table. The logic is simple by design; what the checker adds is knowing which limit applies to which figure, and what the Act allows by way of agreement.

The daily ordinary limit depends on your week. On a five-day week it is nine hours; on a six-day week it is eight. The checker reads your week type and applies the right figure. If your longest day is above that limit but you have entered overtime hours, the checker treats the excess as declared overtime and does not mark the daily check as a breach, leaving the twelve-hour check to test the whole day. If your longest day is above the limit and you have entered no overtime, it marks a breach, because hours over the daily cap that are not treated as overtime are unlawful ordinary hours.

The meal interval check applies the sixty-minute minimum unless you tick that a shorter interval has been agreed in writing, in which case it applies thirty minutes. If your longest day is five hours or less, the check passes whatever you entered, because the interval is only required after five hours of continuous work.

The rest checks are direct comparisons: twelve consecutive hours between shifts, 36 consecutive hours in the week. The checker does not model the variations the Act allows by written agreement, such as ten hours' daily rest for an employee living on the premises, or a sixty-hour rest every second week; it names them in the breach text so that you know what to look for in your contract.

The law behind the numbers

Section 9 of the Act caps ordinary hours at 45 a week, and at nine a day for an employee who works five days or fewer a week or eight a day for one who works more than five days. The daily limit may be extended by up to fifteen minutes a day, to a maximum of one hour a week, for an employee whose duties include serving members of the public, so that customers can be finished with. Section 9A, added with the national minimum wage, requires an employee who works less than four hours on a day to be paid for four.

Section 10 deals with overtime. An employer may not require or permit an employee to work overtime except by agreement, and may not require or permit more than ten hours of overtime a week. A collective agreement may increase that to fifteen hours a week for up to two months in any twelve. No employee may work more than twelve hours in a day, overtime included. Overtime is paid at one and a half times the ordinary wage, or, by agreement, compensated with paid time off of at least ninety minutes for each hour, or an hour's pay plus thirty minutes' paid time off. Time off must be granted within a month, or up to twelve months by agreement. An agreement to work overtime concluded when the employee starts work lapses after a year.

Section 11 allows a compressed working week by written agreement: up to twelve hours a day, within 45 ordinary hours a week, ten hours of overtime a week and five days a week. Section 12 allows a collective agreement to average hours over up to four months, within an average of 45 ordinary hours and five hours of overtime a week.

Section 14 requires a meal interval of at least sixty continuous minutes after five hours of continuous work. An employee may be required to perform only duties that cannot be left unattended during the interval, and must be paid for the interval if required to work or to be available. A written agreement may reduce the interval to not less than thirty minutes, or dispense with it for an employee who works fewer than six hours a day.

Section 15 requires a daily rest period of at least twelve consecutive hours between ending and starting work, and a weekly rest period of at least 36 consecutive hours, which must include Sunday unless otherwise agreed. A written agreement may reduce the daily rest to ten hours for an employee who lives on the premises and whose meal interval lasts at least three hours, and may provide for a rest period of at least sixty consecutive hours every second week, or reduce the weekly rest by up to eight hours if the following week's rest is extended by the same amount.

Section 17 regulates night work between 18:00 and 06:00, which requires agreement, an allowance or a reduction in hours, and available transport. It is not among the checker's seven tests but is often breached in the same rosters.

Worked example

Bongani works in a warehouse on a five-day week. His roster shows 48 ordinary hours, a longest day of thirteen hours, twelve hours of overtime, a twenty-minute lunch with nothing agreed in writing, one turnaround of eight hours between a late shift and an early shift, and a weekend break of 24 hours.

The checker marks six breaches. Ordinary hours of 48 exceed the 45-hour limit; the three hours over must be treated and paid as overtime. His longest day is thirteen hours, but because overtime is declared, the daily ordinary check passes and the twelve-hour check catches it instead: no day may exceed twelve hours, overtime included, without a compressed week agreement. Twelve hours of overtime exceed the ten-hour cap unless a collective agreement allows fifteen for a limited period. A twenty-minute lunch falls short of the sixty minutes required with nothing in writing, and would still fall short of the thirty minutes a written agreement could allow. Eight hours between shifts falls short of the twelve consecutive hours required. A 24-hour weekend falls short of the 36 consecutive hours required.

The headline reads six breaches of the BCEA working-time limits. Each breach line tells Bongani what the Act requires and what agreement could lawfully change it, which is what he needs when he writes to the employer or walks into the labour centre. If his employer produces a written compressed week agreement, the twelve-hour and daily checks change; if it produces a collective agreement on overtime, the overtime check changes; nothing it can produce makes an eight-hour turnaround lawful.

What the calculator does not include

It does not calculate pay. The overtime calculator and the Sunday and public holiday pay calculator on this site do that.

It does not model the written agreements that vary the limits: the compressed working week, averaging, the shortened meal interval for short days, the ten-hour daily rest for live-in employees, or the sixty-hour fortnightly rest. It names them where they would be relevant so that you can check whether one exists.

It does not test night work under section 17, or the special rules for emergency work.

It does not know whether a sectoral determination or bargaining council agreement covers your workplace. Several sectors have their own hours rules within the limits the Act allows for collective agreements.

It does not apply the exclusions. If you earn above the earnings threshold, the hours, overtime and rest rules in chapter two do not apply to you; if you are a senior manager or work under 24 hours a month, chapter two does not apply at all. Either way the results do not describe your rights.

When to get advice

A roster breach is often fixed by pointing it out. Write to the employer, name the section, and ask for the roster to be changed and for any overtime that should have been paid to be paid. Keep a copy, and keep your own record of hours from now on.

If that fails, a labour inspector at the Department of Employment and Labour can inspect the workplace and issue a compliance order, at no cost to you, and you cannot be lawfully dismissed or disadvantaged for making the complaint. Get advice if the employer claims an agreement that you do not remember signing, if the roster is set by a client rather than your direct employer, if you are a shift worker whose employer averages hours in a way you cannot follow, or if the hours have already affected your health. Hours breaches rarely stand alone; they usually come with unpaid overtime, which is a separate claim for money that the CCMA can hear under section 73A if you earn below the threshold.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours a week can I legally be made to work? Forty-five ordinary hours, plus up to ten hours of overtime by agreement, and no more than twelve hours in any day. A collective agreement can raise the overtime cap to fifteen hours for up to two months a year.

How long can a single shift be? Nine hours of ordinary time on a five-day week or eight on a six-day week, and twelve hours in total including overtime. A compressed working week agreed in writing allows twelve-hour days within a 45-hour week.

Am I entitled to a lunch break? After five hours of continuous work, a meal interval of at least sixty minutes. It may be reduced to thirty minutes by written agreement. If you must stay available during it, it is paid.

How much rest must I get between shifts? Twelve consecutive hours, and 36 consecutive hours once a week. The daily rest can be reduced to ten hours by written agreement only if you live on the premises and get a three-hour meal interval.

Can I refuse overtime? Yes, unless you have agreed to it. An agreement in your original contract lapses after a year for this purpose, after which a fresh agreement is needed.

Do these limits apply to me if I earn above the threshold? No. The hours, overtime and rest limits in chapter two do not apply to employees above the earnings threshold, and chapter two does not apply at all to senior managers or to those working under 24 hours a month. Your hours are governed by your contract.

Who enforces this? The Department of Employment and Labour through its inspectors, who can issue compliance orders. Unpaid overtime can be claimed at the CCMA under section 73A by employees below the threshold.