BASIC CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT: ARTS, CULTURE, ADVERTISING PERFORMERS TO BE DECLARED ‘EMPLOYEES’

BASIC CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT: ARTS, CULTURE, ADVERTISING PERFORMERS TO BE DECLARED ‘EMPLOYEES’

• 23 January 2026
• Labour Law
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Employment & Labour has gazetted a notice calling for input by 22 February 2026 on plans to declare ‘all performers in … advertising, artistic and cultural activities as employees’ under:

• specific sections of the 1997 Basic Conditions of Employment Act
• the1993 Compensation for Occupational Injuries & Diseases Act, and
• the 2018 National Minimum Wage Act.

According to the notice, this is given:

• ongoing concerns about the exclusion of vulnerable ‘independent contractors’ from the ‘fundamental protections of employment law’
• input received on proposals gazetted in December 2019, and
• the need to ‘provide a basis for regulatory and enforcement mechanisms that promote decent work in the creative economy’.

Among other things, a media statement issued in anticipation of the notice's publication notes that the consultation process ‘may culminate in a sectoral determination tailored specifically to the industry’s needs’.  

• Government Gazette notice
• media statement
• December 2019 notice

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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