EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION
Minimum wage act bungle leaves workers exposed to employers dodging new law
A numbering error in the National Minimum Wage Act has bungled a clause that protects workers from employers who intend to circumvent the new law. The National Minimum Wage is the most significant labour-related piece of legislation of the democratic era and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s biggest achievement that is set to benefit more than six million workers. According to the law, which kicks in on January 1 , employers are not allowed to pay eligible workers less than R20 an hour. However, the May 1 2017 "retrospective" implementation of a section that states it is "unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally alter wages, hours of work or other conditions of employment in connection with the implementation of the national minimum wage", ended up being cross-referenced to the wrong clause in the act. This means workers whose benefits or working conditions have been changed unilaterally in reaction to the new minimum wage law will have to wait until parliament fixes the err...
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