Check you working hours compliance to see if hours, overtime, meal breaks and rest periods comply with the BCEA.
Use this calculator to check whether an employee’s working hours, meal breaks and rest periods comply with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). Enter the employee’s monthly earnings, hours worked and rest periods given, and the checker will flag any area that falls short of the statutory minimums.
What the BCEA says about working hours
The BCEA regulates ordinary hours of work, overtime, meal intervals, and rest periods for employees who earn below the annual earnings threshold set by the Minister of Employment and Labour.
From 1 May 2026, that threshold is R269,600.90 per year, or R22,466.74 per month. Employees earning above this amount are excluded from the working time provisions in Chapter Two of the Act, unless their employment contract provides more favourable terms.
For employees covered by the Act, the core limits are:
- Ordinary hours: a maximum of 45 hours per week, structured as up to 9 hours a day for a five day week or up to 8 hours a day for a six day week.
- Overtime: capped at 10 hours per week, and only by agreement between employer and employee. Overtime must be paid at 1.5 times the normal wage, or the employee may agree to paid time off instead.
- Meal intervals: a break of at least 60 minutes after five hours of continuous work. This can be reduced to 30 minutes by written agreement, or dispensed with entirely for employees working fewer than six hours in a day.
- Daily rest period: at least 12 consecutive hours between finishing work one day and starting the next.
- Weekly rest period: at least 36 consecutive hours, which must include a Sunday unless otherwise agreed.
How the calculator works
The checker compares the figures you enter against these statutory minimums and maximums, then returns a compliant or non-compliant result for each area, along with an overall status.
Formula used for total weekly hours:
Total Weekly Hours = Ordinary Hours + Overtime Hours
This combined figure is checked against the 55 hour weekly ceiling (45 ordinary hours plus the 10 hour overtime cap).
How to use the compliance checker
- Enter the employee’s monthly gross earnings. This determines whether the BCEA working time provisions apply at all.
- Enter the ordinary hours worked in a typical week.
- Enter any overtime hours worked in that week.
- Enter the length of the meal break given after five continuous hours of work.
- Enter the daily rest period between shifts, in hours.
- Enter the weekly rest period, in consecutive hours.
- Click Check Compliance to see a breakdown of each requirement.
Worked example
An administrative employee earns R15,000 per month, well below the R22,466.74 threshold, so the full working time provisions apply. In a given week, she works 45 ordinary hours and 8 hours of overtime, receives a 60 minute lunch break each day, gets 12 hours of rest between shifts, and has a 36 hour weekly rest period over the weekend.
Checking this against the BCEA limits:
- Ordinary hours: 45 hours, within the 45 hour limit. Compliant.
- Overtime: 8 hours, within the 10 hour limit. Compliant.
- Total weekly hours: 53 hours, within the 55 hour limit. Compliant.
- Meal interval: 60 minutes, meets the standard requirement. Compliant.
- Daily rest: 12 hours, meets the minimum. Compliant.
- Weekly rest: 36 hours, meets the minimum. Compliant.
This employee’s working hours are fully compliant with the BCEA.
Why this matters for employers
Non-compliance with BCEA working time provisions can expose employers to CCMA disputes, back-pay claims and reputational risk. Employees earning below the threshold have the right to refer unpaid amounts to the CCMA for conciliation, and this checker gives employers and HR teams a quick first pass before a formal audit or a labour law consultation.
Note that this calculator is a general guide based on the standard provisions of the BCEA and does not account for sectoral determinations, bargaining council agreements, or averaging of hours arrangements, which can adjust these limits for specific industries. For a binding compliance assessment, consult a labour law practitioner.