[Question] Domestic night work shift allowance

[miskruier]

How to handle a domestic worker's night shift allowance -
how much, to be paid in monetary terms, or be offset against time?

Domestic worker works ordinary eight hours per day (08:00 to 17:00), from Monday to Friday.
Domestic worker works from 19:00 to 20:00 on Mondays to Thursdays. It is not clear
whether normal time of one-and-half hours off, (like 15:00 to 16:00; as well as 16:30 to 17:00)
can be offset against the hour overtime (19:00 to 20:00), or against the night shift allowance?
If it is either of the two, must the other be paid then?

To clarify, if normal one-and-half hours is taken off for the overtime hour, must the night shift
allowance be paid? Is the allowance ten percent of the ordinary daily wage?
If normal one-and-half hours is taken off for the night shift allowance, must the hour overtime be paid?
Is the overtime hour then calculated at one-and-half the normal hourly wage tariff?

Thank you so much for your help.

[miskruier]

Agency PASSOP.co.za response:-
We have re-looked at your inquiry and have conducted some research to inform our advice to you. It appears you still have to negotiate with your employee on the conditions and terms in which she works at night. By the way, any work conducted after 1800hrs constitutes night work in terms of the law. Therefore, our advice is that you discuss with your employee and agree in writing on this particular matter. However, you may find the below findings useful:
- An hour of Night Work
o Conditions (Section 13 (2) of the Sectoral Determination on Domestic Workers): An employer may only require or permit a domestic worker to perform night work, if agreed in writing and if –
(a) the domestic worker is compensated by the payment of an allowance;
o Allowance (Section 13 (3) of the Sectoral Determination on Domestic Workers): The amount of the allowance must be agreed between the employer and the domestic worker.
o Conclusion: There must be a monetary allowance, to be agreed upon by the employer and employee. NO extra time off is allowed.
 If a domestic worker works from Monday to Saturday (6-day week), the maximum amount of hours of work in one day is 8. On days on which she does night work as well, it is therefore necessary to give the extra time off during the day to not exceed this maximum.
 If the domestic worker does not work on Saturday (5-day week), the maximum amount of hours of work is 9 per day.

- An hour of work on Saturday
o Wage (Section 2 (4) of the Sectoral Determination on Domestic Workers)
 A domestic worker who works for less than four hours on any day must be paid for four hours’ work on that day.
o Rate
 ‘Overtime’ means the time that an employee works during a day or a week in excess of ordinary hours of work. Ordinary hours are maximum 45 hours/week, maximum 8h/day in a 6-day week.
o Conclusion
 The domestic worker who works on Saturday for one hour, is to be paid for four hours. The rate is the normal hourly rate, because in this case the hour work on Saturday does not qualify as overtime.