There is a huge amount of confusion about what is considered overtime and what actually is overtime, and this often causes problems within an organisation – it’s that whole perception and assumption thing that very seldom actually reflects reality.

For example: a normal working week is considered (by law) to be 45 hours. So if an employee works 5 days a week, 8 hours a day (remember their lunch times do not constitute ‘working’ time), they have successfully worked a 40 hour week, so working an extra ½ an hour does not mean that they qualify for overtime because they are still 4 ½ hours short on what they should be working. Many employees do not understand this and then feel that the employer is “cheating” them out of overtime pay; by the same token, many employers are not aware of this and just pay! Either way, it is not a good situation and hopefully this article will put things in perspective.

Overtime and work on public holidays
This is where the wording in your Letter/Contract of employment is extremely important. Unless there is a proper agreement and/or contract in place, according to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the employer is not permitted to ‘force’ the employee to work overtime (remember that this means the time that an employee works during a day or a week in excess of ordinary hours of work) on weekends or public holiday.

If you don’t have anything in place in terms of your Letter/Contract of employment and you, as the employer, require overtime work to be done over a weekend and/or public holiday, your staff would only be obliged to work if you got their agreement, in writing, to do so.

It is therefore in your own best interests to get your Letters of Appointment up to date and in compliance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

How to calculate the rates
Let me be very clear here – there are some employees that are not ‘covered’ by the BCOA (Basic Conditions of Employment Act) – these are (but not limited to):

- Members of the National Defence Force
- (workers in) Senior Management
- Sales staff who travel
- Workers who work less than 24 hours in a month
- Workers who earn more than an amount gazetted from time to time – clearly this pertains to specialized circumstances and would not affect most employees – if you’re not sure, please contact an HR Specialist.

No overtime work will be paid unless the overtime has been authorized by an employee’s manager or is required to work in terms of a work roster. Workers must receive 1.5 times their normal hourly rate of pay, or time off in exchange for overtime - or they can even receive a combination of the two.

Staff are not obliged to work overtime:

- Unless the overtime has been made by agreement (in your Letter/Contract of employment or by consent in writing)
- If the overtime is more than 10 hours per week (if this is a special circumstance a ‘collective agreement’ can increase this to 15 hours a week, but only for a maximum of two months in any given year.)
- Workers may not work more than 12 hours a day.

Pay for Overtime Work
As with most calculations, life is generally made a lot easier if you have a formula to calculate with – overtime remuneration is no exception to the rule.

5 day week overtime calculation:

• Those who work a 5 day week work 21.67 days per month (this is accepted as the norm).
• The working week is accepted as 45 ordinary hours (not including overtime).
• The working day is accepted as a 9 hour day. The employee is paid for 8 hours and the 1 hour meal break is NOT paid for. Before every staff member starts weeping and wailing and shouting the odds, this is the law as it is gazetted in the BCOA, so don’t be having a go at your bosses!

So therefore the formula for calculating the hourly rate is:

Salary divided by 21.67 (remember these are the days worked in a month) divided 9 (those are the working hours per day) and 21.67 multiplied by 9 = total working hours per month (195.03 hours). Therefore if Tommy earns say R5 000 per month then his hourly rate is R25.64 per hour and if he has worked 48 hours in one week, then he is entitled to 3 hours over time at 1.5 times his hourly rate, which would mean that he is entitled to an additional R76.92.

So there you have the mysteries of overtime - and how to calculate it - at your fingertips.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

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Comments (8)

• |2010-07-15 14:49:42 tanja
  Isn't the additional supposed to be R115-38? The 76.92 is for 3 hours at normal rate, but in the example it says that the person gets 1.5 times his hourly rate if he works overtime???
  Reply

• |2010-07-16 15:20:54 Adri  - Ms
  Good day
  
  I like your explanation, thank you. I just want to make sure: if a person takes leave - annual or sick leave - you do not add that hours to the weeks' hours? Please help?
  
  Regards
  Adri
  Reply

• |2010-07-20 14:16:39 Nikki Viljoen  - OVERTIME: What You're In For
  Hi Adri. Yes those hours would be added to the week.
  
  Let me explain it another way.
  
  If you work an 8 hour day, that's 40 hours a week.
  
  With a 40 hour week you are entitled to 15 working days paid leave. That's 3 weeks.
  
  If you take one weeks leave, thats 5 days or 40 hours.
  
  Now since the leave is paid (and this would apply to the sick leave too), whether you are at work for those 40 hours (or five days) or whether you were on leave - you would be paid, Not so?
  
  The formula only changes when the leave or sick leave is unpaid.
  
  Regards
  Nikki
  Reply

• |2010-07-20 14:12:03 Nikki Viljoen  - Overtime: What You're In For
  Oh my goodness - well spotted! Clearly I didn't follow my own example properly and mis-calculated the figures - you are indeed correct. The overtime would be R115.38.
  Reply

• |2010-09-12 18:44:05 Louw  - A bit more complicate model for you.
  Hi there Nikki,
  
  Thanks for the clear example, I hope you don’t mind having a look at a bit more complicated model for me.
  
  I am planning to open a small coffee shop soon and want to prepare a spread sheet to calculate the weekly wages for the staff.
  
  • Each staff member will work a 6 day work week in which a Sunday is an ordinary work day (we will always be open on Sundays).
  • Some staff members will from time to time, work over-time, with their consent of course.
  • All staff will always work on Sundays but get the day off somewhere from Monday to Saturday.
  • A 7 day pay cycle starts at opening time on a Monday and ends at closing time on a Sunday, wages are then calculated and paid on the next day (Monday).
  
  When using basic examples of perfect situations, I can instantly calculate the overtime hours, Sunday hours, and hours for the rest of the weekdays, but things rarely are perfect in the world, so by means of the following example, I will recreate a pretend timesheet for an em...
  Reply

• |2010-09-14 09:07:52 Nikki Viljoen  - Overtime - What you're in for
  Your query was not completed as you ran out of space. Please contact me on nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za
  
  Thanks
  Nikki
  Reply

• |2010-11-22 12:46:34 Natasha Barrett  - No overtime for overtime worked
  Hello, I work alot of overtime, but I am not paid for this. No where in my contract does it state that I will not be paid for this. I was only told verbally. Surely there is something I can do to get this money. My working hours are between 7:30am & 4:30 pm Monday to Friday. Sometimes I only get home after 7pm. Is this not in violation of the BCEA. Please advise how I can go about getting monies for overtime worked. Thank you.
  Reply

• |2010-11-24 08:05:58 Nikki Viljoen  - No overtime for overtime worked
  Good Day Natasha.
  
  Here's the thing: firstly, what does your contract say - how many hours are you required to work a week? Is it 40 hours or 45 hours? (it cannot be more than 45 hours).
  
  Secondly - You say that some nights you get home after 7pm - it makes no difference what time you get home - the issue is what time do you start working (notice I did not say 'get to work' and what time do you finish?
  
  Thirdly - in terms of your contract are you required to take 1/2 an hour for lunch or an hour - again notice, I did not ask "If you take" lunch - it's what you are required to take in terms of the contract.
  
  So now let's calculate:
  Number of hours (between the time you start work and the time you finish work)
  LESS: the lunch time that you are supposed to take - will give you the number of hours that you worked in that particular day.
  
  Add these numbers up for the week and then deduct the number of hours that you are supposed to be working (the 40 or the 45).
  ...
  Reply

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