New minimum wage for domestic workers

The minimum wage for domestic workers increased on Sunday, labour minister Mildred Oliphant announced last Friday.
Domestic workers who work more than 27 hours a week in metropolitan areas will from 1 December be entitled to R9.63 an hour R433.35 per week (for a 45 hour week) and R1 877.70 per month (for a 45 hour week)
While their rural and small-town counterparts will earn a minimum of R8.30 per hour, R373.50 per week (for a 45 hour week)  and R1 618.37 per month (for a 45 hour week), her department said in a statement.
The wage adjustment was part of an annual binding determination made by the minister in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
In the statement released on Friday the department warned that in terms of the law, a domestic worker could not be made to work more than 45 hours a week; more than nine hours a day for a five-day work week; or more than eight hours a day for a six-day work week.
“Overtime must be paid at one-and-a-half times the employee’s normal wage, or an employee may agree to receive paid time-off,” it said.