Employment contract template

Most small employers in South Africa hire people on a handshake and a WhatsApp message, and most of the time nothing goes wrong. When something does go wrong, the first question at the CCMA is what was agreed, and nobody can answer it. This template turns that conversation into a signed document that both of you can point to. It is deliberately plain, because a contract the employee cannot understand protects nobody, and the law requires the employer to explain it anyway.

The law does not say a contract of employment must be signed to be valid. It does say, in section 29 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (the BCEA), that an employer must give every employee written particulars when the employment starts. This template covers all of them. What must be in an employment contract explains the rule in more depth.

What this document does and when to use it

This is a contract for a permanent employee, full time or part time, in an ordinary business. It records who the parties are, what the job is, where and when it is done, what it pays, what leave it carries, how it ends, and which of your workplace rules form part of it.

Use it for a new permanent employee, or for an existing employee who has never had anything in writing. In the second case, fill in the real start date in clause 2, because length of service drives notice, severance pay and leave.

Do not use it for a fixed-term appointment, because those carry their own rules, set out in the rules for fixed-term contracts. Do not use it to dress up an employee as an independent contractor either. The label on the document does not decide the question; the reality of the relationship does, as whether independent contractors are protected by labour law explains. If your business falls under a bargaining council agreement or a sectoral determination, such as the one for domestic workers, read that first, because it may give the employee more than the Act does and it overrides anything less generous in your contract.

The written particulars the law requires

Section 29 of the BCEA lists what the employer must give the employee in writing when the employment starts. In plain terms, they are:

• the employer's full name and address;
• the employee's name and occupation, or a brief description of the work;
• the place of work, and an indication if the employee is required or permitted to work at various places;
• the date the employment began;
• the ordinary hours and days of work;
• the wage, or the rate and method of calculating it;
• the rate of pay for overtime;
• any other cash payments the employee is entitled to;
• any payment in kind and its value;
• how often the employee will be paid;
• any deductions to be made from pay;
• the leave the employee is entitled to;
• the notice period, or for a fixed-term contract the date the employment ends;
• a description of any bargaining council or sectoral determination that covers the business;
• any period of employment with a previous employer that counts towards the employee's service;
• a list of any other documents that form part of the contract, and a place reasonably accessible to the employee where a copy of each can be obtained.

The section also requires the employer to explain the particulars in a language and manner the employee understands, to give the employee updated particulars whenever any of them changes, and to keep them for three years after the employment ends. The last item on the list is the one most often missed, and it matters, because it is how your disciplinary code and grievance procedure become part of the contract.

What the contract cannot take away

The BCEA sets minimum conditions. A contract can give more, and it can arrange how the minimums work, but it cannot give less except where the Act itself allows it. A clause that tries is simply replaced by the statutory minimum. The things you cannot contract out of include the following.

Hours and overtime. Ordinary hours may not exceed 45 a week. Overtime may only be worked by agreement, is limited to 10 hours a week, may not take a working day beyond 12 hours, and is paid at one and a half times the normal wage unless you agree on paid time off instead. The rules on working hours and overtime has the detail, and the overtime pay calculator works out the rate. Most of these working-time rules do not apply automatically to employees earning above the BCEA earnings threshold, currently R269 600.90 a year, which the earnings threshold checker tests.

Pay. Nobody may be paid less than the national minimum wage, which is R30.23 an hour from 1 March 2026. The minimum wage calculator converts it to a weekly or monthly figure.

Leave. Annual leave under section 20 is 21 consecutive days in each 12-month cycle, which is 15 working days on a five-day week, or by agreement one day for every 17 days worked. Sick leave under section 22 is the number of days the employee normally works in six weeks over a 36-month cycle, so 30 days on a five-day week. Family responsibility leave is three paid days a year for an employee who has worked for more than four months and works at least four days a week, as family responsibility leave explains.

Parental leave. Since the Constitutional Court's judgment in Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour on 3 October 2025, the old maternity, paternity, adoption and commissioning leave scheme has been replaced, for now, by one shared parental leave entitlement. Two employed parents share four months and ten days between them, and a single parent gets at least four consecutive months. A contract that still says "four months' maternity leave and ten days' paternity leave" is out of date. Read parental leave in South Africa before you fill in clause 13, and use the parental leave planner if an employee asks how a split would work.

Deductions. Under section 34 an employer may only deduct from pay with the employee's written agreement to a specified debt, or where a law, collective agreement, court order or arbitration award requires or permits it. A deduction for loss or damage has four further conditions, including a fair procedure and a cap of one quarter of the employee's pay in money. A blanket clause signed on the first day is not a safe basis for later deductions. See what can be deducted from your salary and the salary deduction checker.

Notice. Section 37 sets a minimum of one week in the first six months, two weeks from six months to a year, and four weeks after that, with four weeks for farm and domestic workers after six months. Notice must be in writing, and no agreement may require the employee to give longer notice than the employer must give. The notice period calculator works it out.

Fairness. No clause can remove the protection against unfair dismissal in the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. Probation does not remove it either.

Walking through it, clause by clause

Clauses 1 to 4 identify the parties, the start date, the job and the workplace. Use the employer's full registered name, not a trading name, because that is who the employee will cite in any dispute. Describe the job briefly and add that the employee will do other reasonable duties.

Clause 5 is probation. The Code of Good Practice: Dismissal, 2025, which replaced Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act from 4 September 2025, says the period must be set in advance and be reasonable, judged by the nature of the job and the time it takes to assess suitability. It also says the employer should give reasonable guidance during probation and may only dismiss or extend after hearing the employee. The probation checker tests a probation dismissal against the Code, and dismissing someone during probation covers the employer's side.

Clauses 6 and 7 cover hours and overtime. One trap here: under section 10 of the BCEA, an overtime agreement made when the employment starts, or in the first three months, lapses after one year. Clause 7 in the contract is therefore not enough on its own after the first year, and the template reminds you to renew it in writing.

Clauses 8 and 9 deal with pay and deductions. State the amount, the pay day and every extra payment. Clause 9 lists only the deductions the law already allows. Clauses 10 to 14 restate the statutory leave minimums and leave space for anything more generous. Clause 16 lists the documents that form part of the contract and where the employee can find them. Clauses 17 to 25 cover confidentiality, personal information, the optional restraint, company property, termination and changes.

Restraints of trade: use with care

A restraint of trade stops an employee from working for a competitor, or taking clients, for a period after leaving. It is enforceable unless it is unreasonable: a court asks whether the employer has a real interest to protect, such as confidential information or client relationships, and whether the restraint goes further than needed in time, area and scope. Restraints on junior staff who have neither are hard to defend, so clause 20 is optional. Read whether a restraint of trade is enforceable before you include it, and get an attorney to draft it for anyone senior.

A worked example

This example is illustrative only and the facts are invented.

Thandeka Mokoena runs a small printing business in Pinetown and hires Bongani Zulu as an administrator from 3 November. She fills in a salary of R11 000 a month, paid on the 25th, for 40 ordinary hours a week, Monday to Friday, with a 60-minute lunch. That works out to about R63.46 an hour, so clause 7 records overtime at R95.19 an hour, and she diarises a reminder to renew the overtime agreement in writing before the first year ends.

She sets a three-month probation, because the job is not complex and she can judge it in that time. In clause 10 she gives the statutory 15 working days of annual leave, and in clause 13 she uses the parental leave wording rather than the maternity and paternity wording from an old contract she found online. She leaves clause 20 out entirely, because Bongani has no client relationships worth protecting. In clause 16 she lists her disciplinary code and grievance procedure and says both are pinned up in the office and emailed with the contract. She explains the contract to Bongani in isiZulu, both sign, and each keeps a copy.

The mistakes that make one of these useless

Copying a foreign template. Contracts from other countries talk about "at-will" employment and terms that do not exist here, and miss the particulars section 29 requires.

Writing "leave as per company policy". If the policy is not attached and listed, the employee has not been told the leave entitlement.

Out-of-date parental leave terms. Maternity and paternity wording written before October 2025 no longer reflects the law.

Relying on the first-day overtime clause for years. It lapses after one year.

A restraint for everyone. It weakens the restraints that matter and invites a dispute.

Endless probation. The Code says probation may not be used to deprive employees of permanent status. Extend only for a reason, and only after hearing the employee.

Never updating it. When pay, hours or the job changes, give the employee updated particulars in writing. Changing a term without agreement is a different problem, covered in whether an employer can change a contract without consent.

How to sign it and keep it

Give the employee the contract before the first day if you can. Explain it in a language they understand, and record in clause 26 that you did. Both parties initial each page and sign the last one. The employee keeps a signed copy, and you keep the original for at least three years after the employment ends.

When to get an attorney

This template suits an ordinary permanent post. Get an attorney for a senior appointment, a restraint of trade, commission, bonus or share schemes, cross-border work, a bargaining council agreement you have not read, or a fixed-term appointment. Have your disciplinary code reviewed too, because it becomes part of every contract that lists it.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this article is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make the employee give three months' notice?

You can agree on longer notice than the statutory minimum, but no agreement may require the employee to give longer notice than the employer must give. If the employee gives three months, so must you.

Can I pay out annual leave instead of letting the employee take it?

No. Annual leave must be taken, and the Act only allows it to be paid out when the employment ends. Use the leave payout calculator for that.

What happens if my contract gives less than the law?

The less generous term is simply replaced by the statutory minimum. The employee gets what the law provides, and the clause protects nobody.