National Minimum Wage waiting on parliament for rescheduled implementation date

Speaking on the department’s national roadshow in Mpumalanga this week, the department’s Steven Rathai said that the rescheduling of the implementation of the NMW is currently sitting with parliament to follow its processes – especially in responding to the avalanche of oral and written submissions in response to the bill and the new labour law amendments.

Rathai said it was imperative for the implementation process to be pushed out for parliament to pass a bill which will be in agreement with everyone and as well avoid a number of court hearings in the future should the government not take into cognisance the comments of stakeholders.

Talking on the regulations of the new bill and the soon to be implemented online system for employers to apply for exemption, Kekulu Padi from the Department of Labour Employment Standards said the new labour regulations will be published soon and employers will have a chance to comment on them.

She said that employers will be alerted in due time before the implementation date to start registering and applying for exemption on the system.

Under the new laws, employers will have to pay their staff a minimum wage of R20 an hour with the exception of sectors such as the farm/forestry, domestic and expanded public works programme workers, that have been given a longer transition period to pay R18, R15 and R11 per hour respectively.

Cabinet approved the National Minimum Wage Bill in November last year, but still needs to pass through parliament before it can be made law. However, due to the massive response from concerned parties – including unions – it is unlikely the implementation date will take place on 1 May 2018 as planned.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who spearheaded the campaign to adopt the NMW, said that the government has accepted that delays would happen while the state tries to make the new laws as thorough as possible.