Proposed amendments to employment laws in South Africa

At a glance

• The Minister of Employment and Labour (Minister) has published the Labour Law Amendment Bill 2025 and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill 2025 (Bill) for public comment, marking the most extensive labour law reform in several years.
• The Bills propose major amendments across key statutes, including the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997 (BCEA), the Employment Equity Act 1998 (EEA), the National Minimum Wage Act 2018 (NMWA), the Unemployment Insurance Act 2001 (UIA) and the Labour Relations Act 1995 (LRA), with a strong focus on improving protections for vulnerable and atypical workers.
• Key reforms include new rules on on‑call and unpredictable work, an expanded and gender‑neutral parental leave framework, a broader definition of 'employee', and increased statutory severance pay.
• Significant changes are also proposed to dispute resolution, unfair dismissal remedies, collective bargaining structures, and procedural requirements for retrenchments.
• If enacted in their current form, these bills will materially reshape employer obligations, workplace flexibilities, and the management of employment disputes.

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On 27 February 2026, the Minister of Employment and Labour published the Labour Law Amendment Bill 2025 together with the Labour Relations Amendment Bill 2025 for public comment. These proposals represent one of the most significant rounds of labour law reform in several years and would amend, among others:

• The BCEA.
• The EEA.
• The NMWA.
• The UIA.
• The LRA.

Public comments are open for 30 days after the publication. A summary of the most salient proposed changes is set out below.

Proposed amendments to the BCEA

On-call, zero‑hours and similar unpredictable work arrangements

The Bill proposes a new framework regulating on‑call, zero‑hours and similar unpredictable work arrangements for employees working for employers who employ more than ten employees. Employers would be required to record key scheduling terms in writing, including:

• Maximum working hours.
• Periods during which the employee must be available for work.
• Reasonable notice periods for both reporting for duty and cancellation of work.

The notice periods should be reasonable and be determined, taking into consideration:

• The nature of the employer's business.
• The employer's ability to foresee the circumstances may give rise to the requirement for the employee to report for duty or cancel work.
• The effect of the cancellation on the employee.

An employer may not require the employee to work without specifying and complying with this notice period. Where work is cancelled without the required notice, employers would be obliged to remunerate employees for the cancelled hours. Moreover, the employer may not prevent an employee from working for another person unless the employer has genuine operational reasons for doing so and such reasons are stated in the written particulars, subject to the employee having fulfilled their obligations to be available for work. For the purposes of this section, genuine operational reasons include:

• Protecting the employer's commercially sensitive information, intellectual property rights and commercial reputation.
• Preventing a conflict of interest that cannot be managed in another way.

These employees are further entitled to paid sick leave of one day for every 26 days worked and may not, without justifiable reason, be treated less favourably than employees performing the same or similar work to whom these provisions do not apply. Any disputes arising from this section will be dealt with in the same way as employees on fixed term contracts in terms of section 198B of the LRA, with the relevant changes required by context. 

The abovementioned measures are aimed at increasing predictability and income security for vulnerable workers.

Parental leave

The Bill proposes a redesigned and more inclusive parental leave regime, replacing the current fragmented maternity, parental, adoption and commissioning parental leave system. These changes were prompted by the Constitutional Court decision in Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour and Others [2025] ZACC 20 and the majority of the provisions are already in force as a result of the interim order by the Constitutional Court. 

The proposals are intended to promote gender equality and provide greater flexibility for working parents. All parents are now entitled to four months' parental leave if only one parent is taking parental leave. Where two parents are taking parental leave, they are collectively entitled to four months and ten days of parental leave, provided neither parent takes more than four months' parental leave. It is also proposed that the right to take parental leave in respect of adoption leave for children under two years is extended to children up to six years of age.

Where both parents are taking joint parental leave and are employed by different employers, each parent must give at least four weeks’ notice to their employer (or as soon as reasonably practicable) and must conclude and submit an agreement indicating how parental leave will be divided between them. If no agreement can be concluded, the leave will be divided as follows:

• A birth-giving parent is entitled to elect to take four months' parental leave and the non-birth giving parent is entitled to ten days.
• A birth giving parent is entitled to elect to take any amount less than four months' parental leave and the non-birth giving parent is entitled to the remainder of the leave.
• In adoption or surrogacy agreements, parental leave must be apportioned in such a way that each parent is as close as possible to half of four months and ten days.

In addition, non-birth givers will not be entitled to take parental leave more than once in a twelve-month period.

Increase in severance pay

The Bill proposes doubling the statutory minimum severance pay for dismissals based on operational requirements, from one week to two weeks’ remuneration per completed year of service. Importantly, the increase is proposed to apply prospectively, meaning it would only accrue in respect of completed years of service after the amendments come into force. The Bill also allows disputes that relate to severance pay only to be referred directly to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for arbitration where the fairness of the dismissal itself is not challenged, simplifying dispute resolution.

Broader definition of 'employee' for purposes of sectoral determinations

The Bill proposes broadening the definition of employee and employer for the purposes of sectoral determinations. 'Employee' would mean an individual performing work or providing services to another, who is not conducting an independent trade, profession or business in which the person receiving the work is a client or customer. An individual would be an employee unless the employer could demonstrate:

• the person is not subject to the control and direction of the employer in connection with the performance of work or provision of services;
• the person is not part of the organisation of the employer; and
• the person does not perform work for or provide services to customers or clients on behalf of the employer under terms set by the employer.

An employer would be defined as any person or entity for whom an employee works. The Bill further proposes that employee as defined in chapter 10 of the BCEA (which deals with monitoring, enforcement and legal proceedings) is expanded to include the aforementioned definition of employee.

Proposed amendments to the EEA

Harassment based claims

The Bill proposes that all unfair discrimination claims based on harassment can be referred to the CCMA instead of the Labour Court, where previously only sexual harassment claims could be referred the CCMA.

Bargaining council

The Bill introduces section 10A, which clarifies that EEA disputes may be referred to a bargaining council if it is allowed in terms of a collective agreement or where the bargaining council has been accredited by the CCMA to perform this role.

Certificate of compliance

The Bill proposes that a Certificate of Compliance issued in terms of the EEA will serve as proof of employment equity compliance for the purposes of any other legislation. This prevents employers being subjected to multiple assessments for employment equity under different statutory frameworks.

Proposed amendments to the UIA

The Bill proposes aligning the Unemployment Insurance Fund benefits with the revised parental leave entitlements set out above, ensuring income support for both parents. 

Proposed Amendments to the NMWA

The Bill proposes that it be expressly clarified that for the purposes of determining compliance with the minimum wage, deferred payments are not taken into consideration. 

Proposed Amendments to the LRA

Collective bargaining

The Bill proposes that any ballot conducted to terminate a closed shop agreement, or to reject an advisory arbitration award relating to a strike or lock‑out that may be non‑functional to collective bargaining or involve a violation of constitutional rights, must be conducted by secret ballot. Where a trade union fails to conduct a secret ballot for the termination of a closed shop agreement within the prescribed time period, the closed shop agreement will lapse.

The Bill further introduces protections for new employers employing fewer than 50 employees. In this regard, it provides that new employers and their employees will not be bound by collective agreements regulating terms and conditions of employment concluded in a bargaining council. For the purposes of this provision, a 'new business' is defined as one that has been in operation for less than two years, subject to certain exclusions.

Further, the Minister will be empowered to make regulations relating to the maintenance of ballot records by trade unions and employers’ organisations and, after consultation with National Economic, Development and Labour Council, to issue guidelines to the Registrar when exercising powers concerning the withdrawal of the registration of trade unions or employers’ organisations.

Unfair dismissals

The Bill proposes that all employees in their first three months of employment or during a longer period of probation are not entitled to institute a claim on the basis of an unfair dismissal. The Bill further clarifies that in cases where there is incapacity or misconduct, a fair procedure is one where the employee has had a reasonable opportunity to respond to the reason for dismissal. 

The Bill proposes that employees earning more than ZAR1.8 million per annum will not be entitled to re-employment or reinstatement in the case of an unfair dismissal, except in cases of automatically unfair dismissal. Such employees will, however, still be entitled to seek compensation in the case of an unfair dismissal. However, where compensation is awarded, the Bill provides that compensation for unfair dismissal and unfair labour practices (currently capped at a maximum of 12 months’ remuneration) will be subject to an additional monetary cap limiting the level of earnings taken into account for purposes of calculating compensation. This monetary cap will not apply where the unfair labour practice falls within section 186(2)(d) of the LRA. The capped amount will be adjusted annually by the Minister in accordance with the Consumer Price Index and published in the Government Gazette.

Large scale retrenchments

The Bill proposes to allow the CCMA to publish and apply its own Facilitation Rules, rather than relying on regulations issued by the Minister. In terms of this amendment, unfair dismissal disputes may be referred directly to the Labour Court once a facilitation process has been concluded, without the need for a further referral to conciliation. Where no facilitation has taken place, the dispute must first be referred to conciliation. This amendment does not apply in circumstances where the employee or trade union is not required to refer the dismissal dispute to conciliation in terms of section 191(1) of the LRA. Moreover, a facilitator will be able to determine picketing rules similarly to the way a commissioner does when conducting a conciliation.

At present, retrenchment disputes follow different procedures depending on whether the employee challenges the reason for the retrenchment or the procedure followed in effecting the retrenchment. As a result, disputes concerning procedural unfairness have historically been dealt with through a different process from those relating to substantive fairness. The Bill simplifies this position by applying a single referral procedure to all retrenchment disputes. Accordingly, challenges based on procedural unfairness will now follow the same process that previously applied only to disputes concerning the fairness of the reason for dismissal.

Dispute resolution

The Bill permits the consolidation of dismissal disputes and unfair discrimination disputes at the CCMA where employees earn below the prescribed earnings threshold. Previously, such disputes were required to be pursued through two separate procedural routes. In addition, where an employee is dismissed in circumstances amounting to an automatically unfair dismissal arising from the exercise of a right conferred by the LRA, pregnancy, or unfair discrimination, the employee may elect either to refer the dispute to arbitration or to approach the Labour Court. Certain accredited bargaining councils will also be able to assume certain functions performed by the CCMA if the Bill is enacted. 

The Bill further seeks to prevent the duplication of claims by providing that an employee may not simultaneously pursue claims for both the unlawfulness and the unfairness of a dismissal arising from the same set of facts. 

The Bill also allows that when enforcing monetary awards, same can be done in the Labour Court or the Magistrates Courts. The CCMA will also be able to enact rules pertaining to large-scale facilitation, enforcement of clams in terms of the NMWA and BCEA and any matter concerning the enforcement of arbitration awards.

Extension of freedom of association, organisational rights and collective bargaining

The Bill proposes that a schedule be introduced to the LRA which extends Freedom of Association, Organisational Rights and Collective Bargaining to individuals that do not fall in the traditional definition of employees under section 213 of the LRA. For the purposes of this section Employee would mean an individual, other than an employee as defined in section 213 of the LRA, who works for a person that is not a client or customer of any profession, business or undertaking carried on by the individual. An individual would be presumed to be an employee unless the employer could demonstrate:

• The person is not subject to the control and direction of the employer in connection with the performance of work or provision of services.
• The person is not part of the organisation of the employer.
• The person does not perform work for or provide services to customers or clients on behalf of the employer under terms set by the employer.

An employer would be defined as any person or entity for whom an employee works.

Way forward

The proposed amendments reflect a clear intention to streamline dispute‑resolution processes, reduce duplication, and introduce greater certainty around remedies and procedural requirements. If enacted in their current form, the Bills will materially alter how dismissal, retrenchment, collective bargaining, and compliance disputes are managed, with notable implications for both employers and employees.

Employers are encouraged to assess the potential impact of these changes on their existing practices and dispute‑resolution strategies; however, it is important to remember that the Bill is still in draft form and subject to further consultation and possible amendments.