The Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth has published new Bills for public comment, which could bring significant changes to work hours and parental leave.
The new Bills are the Labour Laws Amendment Bill, 2025, the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, together with the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, 2025 and related notices.
They introduce changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (BCEA), the Employment Equity Act, 1998 (EEA) and the National Minimum Wage Act, 2018 (NMWA).
The department said that the new Bills mark an essential step in strengthening protections for workers across the country, with public comment open until 28 March 2026.
“The proposed changes modernise key labour laws and introduce practical measures aimed at improving job security, promoting fairness, and extending fundamental rights to vulnerable and previously excluded categories of workers,” said the department.
“They also improve enforcement mechanisms, ensuring that employees receive the full benefits of the law.”
New section 9B of the BCEA provides protections for workers on “on-call,” zero-hours, or min-max contracts.
These employees, often in retail, security, or hospitality, are often vulnerable to irregular hours, no guaranteed income, and last-minute cancellations.
The amendments require employers to set out in writing the guaranteed hours, maximum hours, availability periods, and reasonable notice periods for reporting or cancelling shifts.
Should the employer cancel work without proper notice, the employee must be paid for those hours.
The notice period must take into account the nature of the business, the employer’s control over work availability, and the impact on the employee’s life.
Employees are also protected from being unfairly restricted from working elsewhere unless there are genuine operational reasons, including protecting confidential information.
“These measures aim to reduce exploitation, provide greater income and scheduling predictability, and ensure fair treatment compared to permanent staff,” said the department.
The increase in statutory severance pay from one week to two weeks’ remuneration per completed year of service, especially for dismissals based on operational requirements, is a benefit for employees facing retrenchment.
“Disputes solely about severance pay can now be referred directly to the CCMA or a bargaining council, simplifying access to resolution without needing to challenge the fairness of the dismissal itself.”
Big changes for parental leave
The amendments introduce a more equitable parental leave system by replacing the fragmented maternity and parental leave framework with a shared parental leave model.
Last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that parents can now split parental leave, offering both parents a combined leave of over 4 months, depending on their situation.
Under the new legislation, a single or sole employed parent is entitled to four months’ parental leave, while two employed parents share four months and ten days.
The four months and 10 days are subject to agreed arrangements or equal sharing in the absence of agreement, with priority given to the birthing mother.
The scope has also been expanded to cover the adoption of children up to six years old, which was previously limited to children under two.
The scope also now includes the commissioning parents in surrogate arrangements. The department said this offers greater gender equality, recognises diverse family structures, and provides flexibility.
The government gazette on the new potential legislation can be found below:
https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Labour-Law.pdf
Originally published on BusinessTech