The devil is in the detail: National Minimum Wage

14th February 2017

The devil is in the detail: National Minimum Wage

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa last week announced that representatives of government, business, the community sector and two of the three labour federations represented at The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) have concluded an agreement on the introduction of a National Minimum Wage (NMW).

The emphasis of the agreement was that the level of the NMW will be R20.00 per hour. However, a number of other important factors have also been dealt with in the agreement and require further consideration. When implementing the NMW, these factors must be taken into account:

Having regard to the above, it is imperative that the cost of the NMW is taken into account when employers are planning their staffing requirements.

Written by Aadil Patel and Kirsten Caddy, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr