National Minimum Wage Increase

Author: Alan Homewood

    1 minute read    

The national minimum wage rates, as specified in the National Minimum Wage Act, will increase by 3.8% from R20 per hour to R20,76 for employees. This minimum wage increase will be effective from 1 March 2020.

This means that the hourly rate will need to be changed for employees who are currently earning a wage lower than R20,76 per hour. To review or edit the hourly rate for employees, go to Employees > Bulk Actions > Regular Inputs and select “Basic Salary” and “Hourly Paid” under Filters.

This increase in the hourly rate will also mean an increase in the leave pay for hourly-paid workers as they will be paid extra when paid leave is taken. More information on leave pay can be found on our help site here.

Remember that a change in the ordinary hourly wage will also impact the rate for Sunday pay and public holiday pay. For more information on these, refer to our help page here.

Specific groups of workers will also have an increase in their national minimum wage of 3.8%, as shown below:

  • Farm workers: R18,68 per hour
  • Domestic workers: R15,57 per hour
  • Public works program: R11,42 per hour

Additionally, certain sectors are also covered by the rates contained in the Schedules to this Gazette

Learnership Allowances

The learnership allowances per week for learners specified in Schedule 2 of the National Minimum Wage Act have also increased and come into effect on 1 March 2020. Please refer to page 2 of the Government Gazette linked above for the allowances.

If you have any further queries regarding the impact of this Act on your payroll and on the system, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Team SimplePay