Staff working under 24 hours a month: what changes
Which UIF, annual leave and working-hours rules fall away for South African staff who work fewer than 24 hours a month, and which rules still apply.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa
A florist who brings in a helper for two Saturday mornings a month. A guest house with a gardener who comes once a fortnight. A practice that pays someone to clean the offices for a few hours over a month-end weekend. These people are employees, they get paid, and they appear on the payroll. But some of the rules that govern your full-time staff do not reach them.
The dividing line in several South African rules is the same: 24 hours a month with your business. This article sets out what changes below that line for UIF, for annual leave and for working hours, what does not change, and how to keep the records that show which side of the line each person is on.
UIF: no contributions below the line
SARS's guide for employers says neither the employer nor the employee contributes to UIF where the employee works for that employer for less than 24 hours a month. SARS's UIF page repeats the exclusion, listing it alongside officers and employees in the national or provincial sphere of government.
Two phrases in that wording carry weight. "For that employer" means the hours are counted per employer: someone who works short hours for you and long hours for another business is still below the line in your books. And "a month" means each month is looked at, so a worker whose hours creep up in December may cross into contributions for that month.
The government's UIF services page approaches it from the other side: it says you are required by law to register with the UIF and contribute if you employ people for more than 24 hours per month. SARS speaks of "less than 24 hours" and the government page of "more than 24 hours", so neither phrase settles a worker whose hours land exactly on the line. If that is your situation, ask the UIF rather than guessing.
SARS's Unemployment Insurance Fund page lists who is excluded from contributions and explains who registers with SARS and who registers with the UI Commissioner instead. How contributions are worked out for everyone above the line is covered in how UIF is worked out, and the monthly ceiling.
Annual leave: provisions that do not apply
The Department of Employment and Labour's basic guide to annual leave says the annual leave provisions do not apply to workers who work less than 24 hours a month. The same guide says a public holiday cannot be counted as annual leave, which matters for everyone else on your staff.
"Do not apply" is about the statutory minimum. It does not stop you agreeing to give leave in the contract, and many employers do. What it means is that the Basic Conditions of Employment Act's annual leave minimum is not the floor for this worker. Whatever you promised in writing is. The minimums that apply to everyone else are set out in leave minimums under the BCEA.
Note that the department's guide pages date from 2012. They remain the department's published guidance, but read them alongside the Act itself if a dispute is likely.
Working hours: who the provisions leave out
The department's guide to pay slips says the Basic Conditions of Employment Act applies to all employers and workers except members of the National Defence Force, the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service, and unpaid volunteers working for charity. So a short-hours worker is still covered by the Act as a whole.
The working-hours provisions are narrower. According to the same guide, they also exclude senior managers, travelling sales staff who set their own hours, and workers working less than 24 hours a month. The broader question of who the Act reaches is covered in who the Basic Conditions of Employment Act covers.
Here is the overall picture for a worker below the line:
| Rule | Below 24 hours a month |
|---|---|
| UIF contributions | Neither employer nor employee contributes |
| Annual leave provisions of the BCEA | Do not apply; the contract governs |
| Working-hours provisions of the BCEA | Do not apply |
| The rest of the BCEA | Still applies |
Keeping a record of hours, period by period
Every exclusion above turns on how many hours a person actually worked for you in a month. That makes your own record of hours the evidence. If an inspector or the UIF asks why no contributions were paid for a worker, the answer is a register of dates and hours, not a recollection.
A workable routine:
- Record each short-hours worker's dates and hours every time they work.
- At month end, add the hours up before the pay run, not after.
- If the total crosses the line for that month, treat that month accordingly.
- Keep the register with the payroll records for that month.
In Achekam, pay runs can be monthly, fortnightly or weekly, and each period's overtime, commission, allowances, reimbursements and unpaid leave are entered as variable inputs. A business with casual staff can run them on whichever cycle suits, and enter what changed for the period as inputs to that run. Keep your hours register alongside it, and before you approve the run, check that each short-hours worker's UIF line matches what their hours for the month require.
Leave for casual staff in Achekam
Achekam's payroll keeps annual, sick, family responsibility and unpaid leave with monthly accrual. A line manager approves their own team's leave, and nobody approves their own. Unpaid leave does not cut pay automatically: payroll is warned and decides.
For a short-hours worker, decide what leave the contract actually gives before you rely on any balance. If the agreement gives no annual leave, make sure the leave shown for that person reflects the agreement. If it does give leave, the same approval rules apply as for anyone else, which keeps a casual worker's leave from being approved by the person who takes it.
A quick review of your casual staff
List everyone who works for you on irregular or very short hours. For each, check the last few months of hours, what their contract says about leave, and whether UIF was handled to match. Where the hours sit close to the line, start keeping a monthly total now. A few minutes of record-keeping each month is what lets you show, later, that each rule was applied to the right people.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
