NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE EXEMPTION REQUIREMENTS UNPACKED

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE EXEMPTION REQUIREMENTS UNPACKED

• 30 June 2023
• Labour Law
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Employment & Labour has issued a media statement reminding employers of exemption provisions in the National Minimum Wage Act, 2018.

Contrary to a report in Legalbrief Policy Watch, the statement does not announce ‘a major policy development’. Neither does it provide an unexpected ‘lifeline’. Instead, the statement simply draws attention to the procedures to be followed when applying for an exemption.

According to the Act’s sub-section 15(1), ‘An employer or an employers’ organisation registered in terms of section 96 of the Labour Relations Act, or any other law, acting on behalf of a member, may, in the prescribed form and manner, apply for an exemption from paying the national minimum wage’.

The statement outlines what is meant by ‘the prescribed form and manner’ of an exemption application, which in the case of an employer operating a business, includes supplying:

• ‘full financial statements’ for the two years preceding the application
• ‘current year predictions’, and
• ‘such other information that may be needed, as prompted by the exemption system’ (in that regard, the statement expressly refers to ‘depreciation, finance costs, operating expenses, tax and dividends’).

Household employers applying for an exemption are required to provide details of:

• annual household income and expenditure, and
• ‘any other information that may be needed as prompted by the system’ (in which regard the statement expressly refers to ‘education, food and beverages, entertainment, loan repayments and travel costs’).

Please click the links below for more information:

• media statement
• Act
• amendment Act (correcting a drafting error in the original Act)

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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