South African employment contracts operate above the BCEA minimums. They can improve on the Act, never reduce it.
The clause that matters most
How your package is structured. Because severance is calculated on remuneration — including regular allowances and employer contributions to medical aid and retirement — the composition of your package determines what a future severance is worth.
Two offers with the same cost to company can produce different severance figures depending on how the components are described.
What to check before signing
- The package composition — what is basic, what is allowance, what is employer contribution
- Notice period, and whether it exceeds the Section 37 minimum
- Any severance provision above the statutory one week per year
- Leave entitlement and how it accrues
- Whether a sectoral determination or bargaining council covers your work
Bargaining councils
Where a bargaining council covers your sector, its agreement may set conditions well above the BCEA — and disputes about severance can be referred there rather than to the CCMA.
Better severance terms
A contract, collective agreement or company policy may set a higher severance amount than one week per year. Those terms apply instead of the statutory minimum.
What cannot be reduced
The BCEA minimums on notice, leave and severance cannot be contracted below. An agreement attempting it does not override the Act.
Fixed-term contracts
Have their own rules on renewal and expectation of continued employment. Repeated renewal can create an expectation that affects how non-renewal is treated.
Keep your records
Your contract, every payslip, and any letter varying your terms.
Payslips matter especially because they evidence your full remuneration — the figure that drives severance and that employers most often get wrong.
Warning signs
Be cautious about paying for a job, for training or for registration before being hired.