Proposed new labour law amendments deadline looms

South African employers have until 28 March 2026 to comment on wide-ranging proposed amendments to the country’s labour laws.

The changes, contained in the Employment Laws Amendment Bill and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, touch nearly every corner of the workplace and will impact how businesses contract, manage and, where necessary, part ways with employees.

The proposed amendments span the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), Employment Equity Act (EEA), Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA), National Minimum Wage Act (NMWA), and the Labour Relations Act (LRA).

Read together, they revise parental leave and related Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits, introduce new protections for certain “on-call, zero hours, mini-max, flexitime and ‘if and when’ contracts” work arrangements, increase the statutory severance floor, widen the reach of some BCEA enforcement and dispute-resolution provisions, strengthen recovery mechanisms for unpaid benefit-fund contributions, and extend freedom of association, organisational rights, collective bargaining and strike protections to a broader category of workers.

The bills also include proposals affecting bargaining council agreements on terms and conditions of employment for newly established employers with fewer than 50 employees during their first two years, large-scale retrenchment procedure and facilitation, the calculation of the national minimum wage, dismissal remedies, trade-union ballot requirements and compliance powers.

The proposed amendments carry significant operational and financial implications for companies, but, so too, they are equally an effort to strengthen protection for employees, particularly those in more vulnerable or non-traditional forms of employment.

The Department of Employment and Labour states that these proposed changes aim to modernise key labour laws and introduce practical measures aimed at improving job security, promoting fairness and extending fundamental rights to vulnerable and previously excluded categories of workers. They further aim to improve enforcement mechanisms, ensuring employees receive the full benefits of the law.

The operational reality not only reframes employee relations but also impacts bottom lines. One policy driver, set out in the Labour Relations Amendment Bill Memorandum, is the rise of “unprotected work” and the so-called twilight zone in which workers fall outside ordinary statutory definitions. For businesses that rely on platform-based or other non-standard arrangements, that means closer scrutiny of workforce classification, record-keeping and dispute exposure. That carries direct implications: from statutory benefits and severance obligations to compliance, record-keeping and dispute exposure.

At the same time, the measure is intended to provide greater financial protection to employees facing retrenchment, particularly in an environment of economic uncertainty.

Lizanne Engelbrecht, executive manager: Content at LexisNexis, says the proposed amendments point toward stronger governance, while also highlighting areas that warrant careful consideration.

“We are seeing a clear policy push toward stronger worker protection and more accountable labour governance. The proposed changes do not amount to a blanket contractor-to-employee conversion, but they do broaden protections and presumptions in specific contexts. That brings cost and governance considerations, and it invites a broader discussion around oversight, classification, fairness and, importantly, how to balance worker protection with business efficiency and sustainability.”

For certain on-call and similar arrangements, the proposed amendments are aimed at curbing exploitation and creating greater scheduling and income predictability while preserving some operational flexibility.

Proposed section 9B of the BCEA would apply to employees below the BCEA earnings threshold who work only when the employer makes work available and must be available to accept that work. The department has described the measure as one aimed at clearer protections around guaranteed and maximum working hours; employers would have to record in writing the maximum hours for the relevant period, the periods during which employees must be available for work, and the notice periods for reporting for work and for cancellations. If the required cancellation notice is not given, the employee must be paid for the cancelled hours.

The section also limits restrictions on working elsewhere unless genuine operational reasons exist, and it would not apply to employers with fewer than 10 employees.

Engelbrecht cites the proposal to increase statutory severance pay from one week to at least two weeks’ remuneration per completed year of continuous service, and says it would add a layer of financial exposure, particularly for businesses operating in sectors where restructuring and workforce adjustments are common. The department has framed this as a direct financial benefit to employees facing retrenchment.

The measure is also paired with a more direct dispute route because disputes solely about severance pay – whether arising from statute, contract or collective agreement, and where the fairness of the retrenchment is not challenged – could be referred directly to arbitration through the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) or a bargaining council with jurisdiction.

The broader dispute and enforcement framework may also influence how businesses approach risk management. A clear objective is to reduce bottlenecks, avoid duplication and place more employment law disputes in forums designed to resolve them efficiently.

The EEA amendments would allow unfair-discrimination disputes involving harassment to proceed to CCMA arbitration. The LRA and BCEA amendments would also widen the role of bargaining councils, accredited agencies and the CCMA in resolving or enforcing certain employment law claims, allow related claims under different labour statutes to be heard together in appropriate cases, and allow employees below the applicable threshold to elect CCMA arbitration in certain automatically unfair dismissal matters concerning the exercise of LRA rights, pregnancy or unfair discrimination.

Easier and more direct access to these processes may translate into more frequent challenges, requiring stronger internal processes and documentation.

The amendments also reinforce the need for consistency between what is reported and what is practised. “There is a growing expectation that governance is not just about policies on paper, but about how those policies are implemented day to day. Workforce classification, dispute handling and contract structures all fall within that scope,” Engelbrecht says. “If there is a disconnect, it will surface – whether through disputes, audits or stakeholder scrutiny.”

The proposed changes address how to balance stronger job security for employees with the need for businesses to remain financially sustainable and continue creating employment opportunities, while in the same breath the amendments represent a strengthening of protections in times of vulnerability. “There is,” notes Engelbrecht, “a policy effort to strengthen the rule of law within the labour market while ensuring employees are able to access the full benefits of existing protections.”

With the consultation window closing on 28 March 2026, employers should test the text against their workforce models, leave policies, payroll and UIF administration, bargaining council exposure, on-call staffing practices, retrenchment and dismissal processes, and dispute handling frameworks, and submit comments while the bills are still at the public consultation stage.

The stated aim of the package is a fairer, more modern and more inclusive labour market; businesses that see implementation gaps, cost pressures or unintended consequences should place those concerns on record to help shape a workable balance between protection and efficiency.

Comments on the proposed amendments are to be submitted to the Minister in writing via email:

Hlukani.Mabunda@labour.gov.za or Kapano.kgatlanye@labour.gov.za. This step precedes the formal introduction of a bill to Parliament where further public participation will be possible.