Are you legally required to work overtime?

Working overtime is a common practice in many fields. In some cases, companies have a culture where overtime work is expected of employees.

But where’s the line between voluntary additional work and subtle coercion? JustMoney got to the bottom of this conundrum.

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What does the legislation say about overtime? 

According to Adine Abro, managing partner at Adine Abro Attorneys, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 of 1997 (the Act) is applicable to working overtime.

She points out that the Act defines overtime as the time an employee works during a day or week in excess of ordinary hours of work, where the ordinary hours of work will be stipulated in the employee’s employment contract.   

“The Act provides that the employer may not force any employee who earns less than R205,433.30 per annum to work overtime except with the agreement of the employee,” says Abro.

“All overtime is voluntary and may only be worked by agreement between the employer and employee. Section 10 of the Act provides that the maximum permissible overtime is three hours on any one day or ten hours in any one week,” she explains.

“The remuneration must be at 1.5 times the normal wage rate, except for work which is done on a Sunday or public holidays, which must be remunerated at twice the normal wage rate,” says Abro.

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Must you always be paid for overtime?

Abro points out that employees who earn in excess of the present threshold amount (R205,433.30 per annum) are not subject to the provisions of section 10 of The Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which focuses on overtime. These employees cannot demand to be paid for overtime worked. 

“However, contrary to popular belief, the employer also cannot force such employees to work overtime and cannot demand that they work overtime without compensation. These employees must negotiate their overtime provisions and compensation for it with the employer,” says Abro.

Can overtime be considered for raises and promotions?

Abro insists that overtime is not compulsory, and employees can refuse to work overtime on short notice. However, she adds that an employee cannot refuse to work overtime if the work which is required to be done must be done without delay owing to circumstances for which the employer could not reasonably have been expected to make provision.

This being said, Abro adds that employees cannot be fired for refusing to work overtime. She also explains that it’s illegal to consider the amount of overtime worked when considering raises and promotions.

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