Sonja Vorster
The new minimum wages effective from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 in the hospitality sectoral determination no 14 is explained.
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The hospitality sectoral determination no 14 does not only apply to hotel’s as many people seem to think and it is important that employers and employees find out if they fall in this sector as it determines your current minimum wages until the National Minimum Wages becomes law of R20 per hour.
The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service delivery industry of South Africa. Any commercial business or part of a commercial business in which employers and employees are associated to carry on or conduct one or more of the following activities for reward, fall within this sector:
• providing accommodation in a hotel, motel, inn, resort, game lodge, hostel, guest house, guest farm or bed and breakfast establishment, including short stay accommodation, self-catering, timeshares, camps and caravan parks;
• restaurants, pubs, taverns – shebeens, cafés, tearooms, coffee shops, fast food outlets, snack bars, industrial or commercial caterers, function caterers, contract caterers that prepare, serve or provide prepared food or liquid refreshments, other than drinks in sealed bottles or cans whether indoors or outdoors or in the open air, for consumption on or off the premises; and
• includes all activities or operations incidental to or arising from any of the activities mentioned above.
The incidental to or arising from include industries such as amongst others adventure, hiking, horse trail and canoeing camps, canopy zip line employees, balloon ride operations. All those incidental activities that arise to or out of any form of the hospitality and tourism industry.
Overtime
If any employee works overtime, he is entitled to an overtime rate. Overtime is paid as follows:
Example: Employed in company with less than 10 employees the hourly rate is R17.34.
Monday to Saturdays: R17.34 x 1.5 = R26.01 x number of hours worked = overtime due.
Sunday’s (If the company is normally open and the person ordinarily works on a Sunday he would be paid at a rate of R17.34 x 1.5 for 4 hours minimum).
READ MORE HERE: LABOUR BUZZ: National minimum wages effective May 1, 2018
For Sundays a person may not be paid for less than four hours. If the waitress does not normally work on a Sunday or public holiday and she is required to work, she would receive double time calculated as R17.34 x 2 = 34.68 x a minimum on four hours must be paid, if more than four hours were worked x by the number of actual hours worked.
Be very aware employers and employees
Restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, fast food outlets such as pizza outlets still regularly take the chance to get students to work for them and claim that they work ONLY for tips. This is against the law.
The driver riding his motorcycle delivering food must be paid the minimum wage for the hours worked and he is protected under all the aspects governing the sectoral determination. If students only work over weekends for that extra income, they are entitled to the hourly rate and they are entitled to the tips they earn.
If you are still a student and working part-time you must also be registered for UIF, if you work more than 27 hours per month with the employer.
This particular industry especially in the areas frequented by tourists during the holiday periods, is endemic of employees being taken advantage of.
The minute an individual starts to provide a service to a company, that person becomes an employee, either on a temporary contract defined by time for certain periods a week, or a permanent employee working full time or working certain days per week.
If you are not given a contract, you are still a deemed employee and still protected under the law. Insist on a payslip when receiving your remuneration.
Least of all when a person works on any type of contract/agreement the person being a one day a week, two day a week or more days per week employee, he would be entitled to accumulated leave in the same manner as a permanent employee.
For every 17 hours work, the person qualifies for one hour paid annual leave. For any 26 hours work, the employee qualifies for one hour paid sick leave.
When the person leaves your services, perhaps after the holiday period, the accumulated leave pay hours must be paid out to the employee and he must be provided with a UI19 for contract ended.
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