Question:

BCEA – Am I eligible? I work twice the number of hours allowed by the BCEA and am on standby at night and may not leave my work premises during that time unless to fulfill my duties. This brings my total number of hours to almost 555 p/m with only one Saturday off a month. I have proposed to my employer that this is illegal.

They dispute that I fall under BCEA as they claim my salary is in excess of the maximum amount. To get to this figure they include such things as ‘value’ of the flat I stay in – accommodation in which is compulsory – ie I may not move out and get the value in cash as they require me to be present at my place of employment through the night as well as food allowance and med aid, pens contributions.

My salary as per my salary advice is R8800 p/m. Please advise if there is a possibility that they are correct. I have been to Dept Labour and the consultant claims that I do fall under BCEA but I can’t be entirely sure as my employer has an external adviser who refutes this. I have been with my employer for more than a year and have raised this issue with them before. I have resigned as I cannot work such hours but can only leave at year end as its a school. Please advise or direct me to someone who will be able to assist me.

Answer:

The BCEA applies to all – the only exclusion is with regards to overtime payments for those that earn in excess of a prescribed annual salary. The hours that you work are prescribed and limited. With the maximum hours overtime allowed and standard hours prescribed no person should exceed approx. 240 hours per month by law. Your benefits I.e. Accommodation,medical and provident are irrelevant to the situation. So , yup, you are being totally exploited.

Feel free to tell them that you have advice from a senior labour specialist and they are in severe breach of legislation and as such you will only work a maximum of 238 hour per month and if they want to force you to work more you are more than happy to lodge formal complaints with the CCMA & Dept of Labour.

If they say you are exempt from the act please ask them to provide written clauses and reference to this. They will not be able to. So then they are merely bulls***ing.

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