Is an employee obliged to notify his or her employer if they plan to work overtime?

Section 10 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act deals with overtime and stipulates the following: “An employer may not require or permit and employee to:

• work overtime, except per agreement;
• work more than ten (10) hours overtime per week.”

It is also mentionable that employees who deserve more than R205 433.30 per annum won’t be entitled to payment for overtime, except when there is an agreement between the employee and employer that allows overtime.

As stipulated in section 10 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, overtime may only be worked per agreement. If an employee doesn’t notify his or her employer that they will be working overtime, they are breaking the obligation of an “agreement” between parties before overtime can take place, and that the employee can be paid for it. Therefore, it is necessary for an employee to give notice that they will work overtime, so that the employee’s extra work can be considered as overtime, and that they could be paid for it.

Thus, both parties (i.e. the employer and employee) should carry knowledge that the employee is going to work overtime. Logically thinking, it would be foolish to work overtime and not notify your employer, because how should an employer pay an employee for overtime if is he or she doesn’t know that the employee worked overtime? If an employee wants to be paid for overtime, it is extremely important to notify the employer so that an agreement can be reached between the two parties. This agreement will validate the overtime of the employee that he or she will be paid for.

Author: Daniel Grove