Your Rights in Your First Job: What the Law Guarantees Even If Your Contract Says Otherwise

Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

The most useful thing to know when you start your first job isn't in your contract. It's this:

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) is a legal minimum. Your contract can give you more than the BCEA, but never less.

If a clause gives you fewer rights than the law, that clause has no effect. The legal minimum still applies, whatever you signed. As LekkerLaw puts it, any clause that gives you fewer rights than the BCEA has no force.

With that in mind, here are the numbers worth knowing.

You're entitled to your terms in writing

When you start work, your employer must give you your main terms of employment in writing. These are sometimes called your "particulars of employment". They include:

• your employer's full name and address, and your job title or a description of your work
• your start date and your ordinary working hours and days
• your wage, how it's calculated, how often you're paid and your overtime rate
• any deductions and payments in kind
• your leave entitlement
• your notice period (or, for a fixed-term job, the length of the contract)

If your terms change, the written particulars must be updated. If you never received anything in writing, that's already a breach of the Act.

Hours and overtime

• Ordinary hours: a maximum of 45 hours a week.
• Overtime only by agreement, up to 10 hours a week, and never more than 12 hours in a day in total.
• Overtime pay: at least 1.5 times your normal rate, or paid time off if you agree to that instead.

Leave

Annual leave: 21 consecutive days a year on full pay. For someone working a five-day week, that's 15 working days. By agreement, it can instead build up at one day for every 17 days worked. Your employer must let you take it within six months of the end of each leave year.

Sick leave: over each three-year cycle, you get paid sick leave equal to the days you'd normally work in six weeks. That's 30 days on a five-day week. In your first six months, the rule is different: you earn one day of paid sick leave for every 26 days worked.

Your employer can ask for a medical certificate before paying you if you're off for more than two days in a row, or more than twice in eight weeks.

Notice periods

Either you or your employer can end the contract with notice of at least:

How long you've worked there	Minimum notice
6 months or less	1 week
More than 6 months, up to 1 year	2 weeks
1 year or more	4 weeks

Notice must be given in writing. Your contract can require a longer notice period, but not a shorter one.

Probation doesn't mean they can dismiss you for anything

Probation is a legitimate way for an employer to see how you're doing. It doesn't let them dismiss you without a good reason. According to LekkerLaw:

• the probation period must be reasonable for the job
• there must still be a fair reason and a fair process to dismiss you
• you should get feedback and a chance to improve

Rolling fixed-term contracts

Some employers keep renewing short fixed-term contracts instead of making someone permanent. The law looks at what's actually happening, not just what the paperwork says.

If you earn below the BCEA earnings threshold (see below), a fixed-term contract longer than three months needs a justifiable reason, such as a specific project, seasonal work or covering someone's leave. Without one, you may be treated as a permanent employee, whatever your contract says. If you've been doing the same job on back-to-back contracts, it's worth getting advice.

The earnings threshold nobody mentions

From 1 May 2026, the BCEA earnings threshold is R269,600.90 a year, or R22,466.74 a month.

If you earn more than this, some BCEA protections no longer apply to you, including overtime pay and meal intervals. A graduate on a good starting salary can be above the threshold without realising it. If you are, your contract becomes the main thing that decides whether you're paid for extra hours, so read that clause carefully.

Before you sign: a quick check

1. Does the contract match what you were offered: salary, title, hours?
2. Is there a clear notice period that's at least the legal minimum?
3. How long is probation, and what are you being assessed on?
4. If it's fixed-term, what's the reason, and when does it end?
5. If you're above the earnings threshold, what does it say about overtime?
6. Are there any restraint-of-trade clauses that limit where you can work afterwards?

Ask about anything you don't understand before you sign. A reasonable employer will expect questions from a new hire.

This article explains general rights under South African labour law and isn't legal advice. Some rules can be varied by bargaining council agreements or sectoral determinations. For your specific situation, speak to the Department of Employment and Labour, the CCMA or a labour lawyer.