NMW Act
National Minimum Wage Act, 2018 (Act No. 9 of 2018)
The hourly floor under every paid worker in South Africa, and the rules for working out whether you are above it. Allowances, tips, board and accommodation do not count towards it, the figure changes every March, and an employer who cannot pay it has to be granted an exemption rather than simply pay less.
Sections
4
Duties
12
Questions
20
Assessment from
R 12 200
What it covers
The National Minimum Wage Act sets one hourly floor for the whole country. With effect from 1 March 2026 it is R30,23 for each ordinary hour worked, set by the Minister under section 6(5) in Government Notice R.7083, Government Gazette 54075 of 3 February 2026. Farm workers and domestic workers are on the same R30,23. Workers on an expanded public works programme are on R16,62, and learners on a learnership agreement are on the weekly allowances in Schedule 2. Three features make it harder than a single number suggests. First, who it covers. The Act binds every employer of every worker, and a worker is "any person who works for another and who receives, or is entitled to receive, any payment for that work whether in money or in kind". That is wider than an employee. A person you treat as a contractor, a casual, a piece worker or a commission earner is a worker for this Act, and so is somebody paid in kind. The only people outside it are the defence force, the intelligence agency, the secret service, and a genuine volunteer who receives nothing. Second, how the wage is calculated. Section 5(1) says the wage is the amount payable in money for ordinary hours of work, excluding any payment made to enable the worker to work, which expressly includes transport, equipment, tool, food and accommodation allowances, excluding any payment in kind including board or accommodation, and excluding gratuities including bonuses, tips or gifts. An employer paying R27 an hour plus a R4 transport allowance is paying R27, not R31, and is underpaying. A restaurant counting tips towards the floor is underpaying. A farm counting housing towards the floor is underpaying. Where a worker is not paid by the hour at all, section 5(3) requires the pay to convert to at least the floor across the ordinary hours, so a per load rate for a driver has to be tested against the hours the run actually takes. Third, the floor is a term of the contract and cannot be traded. Section 4(6) says payment of the national minimum wage cannot be waived and takes precedence over any contract, collective agreement, sectoral determination or law. Section 4(7) makes it a term of the worker's contract unless the contract gives something better. Section 4(8) makes it an unfair labour practice to unilaterally alter wages, hours of work or other conditions of employment in connection with implementing the wage, which is the provision that catches the employer who funds the March increase by cutting the shift from nine hours to eight or withdrawing the transport allowance. An employer who genuinely cannot pay has one lawful route: an exemption under section 15, applied for on the Department's National Minimum Wage Exemption System. It is granted only if the delegated authority is satisfied the employer cannot afford the wage and that the representative trade union or the affected workers have been meaningfully consulted. It lasts at most twelve months, it can never take the wage below ninety per cent of the minimum, and the notice has to be displayed at the workplace. Paying less without one is simply underpaying. Enforcement runs through the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. A labour inspector secures an undertaking under section 68 or issues a compliance order under section 69. The fine for underpaying the national minimum wage is set by section 76A at twice the underpayment or twice the worker's monthly wage, whichever is greater, and thrice for a second or further non-compliance. Section 76 puts the onus on the employer to prove compliance, so an employer who cannot produce the records loses the point.
Does this apply to you?
This applies to you if anybody works for you and is paid for it, in money or in kind. There is no small employer carve out, no earnings threshold and no probation exception.
Answer for workers, not only for employees. Section 1 defines a worker as any person who works for another and who receives, or is entitled to receive, any payment for that work whether in money or in kind. A driver paid per load, a packer paid per crate, a sales agent on commission only, a casual called in for a shift and a person you issued a contractor agreement to are all workers if they work for you and you pay them. If you would struggle to explain to an inspector why a person is not a worker, treat them as one for this assessment.
Three groups are outside the Act entirely: members of the South African National Defence Force, the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service, under section 3(1). One more is outside it by definition: a volunteer, meaning somebody who performs work for another and does not receive and is not entitled to receive any remuneration for it, under section 3(2). A stipend, a travel payment or a food parcel in exchange for the work takes a person out of that definition and into the Act.
Lower floors apply to only three groups, and only the ones Schedule 1 names: workers on an expanded public works programme at R16,62 an hour, and learners on a learnership agreement under section 17 of the Skills Development Act on the Schedule 2 weekly allowances. Farm workers and domestic workers are expressly on R30,23 in the current Schedule 1, item 2(a) and (b). If you are paying anybody below R30,23 and they are not in one of those categories, you need a granted exemption or you are underpaying.
If a bargaining council collective agreement or a sectoral determination covers you and sets a higher wage, that higher wage is what you must pay: section 4(7) only lets the contract, agreement or law displace the national minimum wage where it is more favourable to the worker. Road freight, passenger transport, contract cleaning, wholesale and retail, and private security are all covered by instruments with their own higher floors. A yes against this record while breaching a council agreement is still a finding you will have to deal with.
The four hour minimum payment in section 9A of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act applies only to workers earning below the earnings threshold the Minister sets under section 6(3) of that Act. That threshold is revised by notice and this record does not carry the figure; check the current determination before answering that question.
Where this text comes from
Transcribed 2026-10-20. Check the provision against the source before relying on it in a filing.
What non-compliance costs
Underpaying the national minimum wage has its own fine, and it is calculated on the underpayment rather than set as a flat amount. Section 76A of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, inserted by the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Act 7 of 2018, sets the fine at the greater of twice the value of the underpayment or twice the employee's monthly wage. For a second or further non-compliance it is the greater of thrice the underpayment or thrice the monthly wage. The Department must publish a list of all employers issued with compliance orders on its website quarterly, so the finding is public.
The route there is administrative. A labour inspector with reasonable grounds to believe the Act has not been complied with first tries to secure a written undertaking under section 68 of the BCEA, and may seek agreement on the amount owed to each worker. Failing that the inspector issues a compliance order under section 69, which must name the provision breached, the amount the employer must pay each worker in terms of section 76A, the steps required and the maximum fine. The order must be displayed prominently where the affected workers can read it. An employer who does not comply within the stated period, and does not refer a dispute to the CCMA within that period, has the order made an arbitration award.
The arrears are usually larger than the fine. Under section 73A of the BCEA any worker earning below the earnings threshold may refer a failure to pay any amount owing straight to the CCMA, which must begin the arbitration immediately after certifying the dispute unresolved. Interest runs under section 75. The same miscalculated hourly rate underpaid every worker on the same rate, so the exposure is the shortfall multiplied by the headcount multiplied by the months.
Section 76 of the BCEA reverses the onus: in any proceedings concerning a contravention of this Act it is for the employer to prove that its records are valid and accurate, and an employer who failed to keep a required record has to prove compliance without one. An employer who cannot produce the hours worked and the money paid loses the point rather than merely failing to win it.
Cutting hours, withdrawing an allowance or changing conditions to absorb an increase is not a fine but an unfair labour practice under section 4(8) of this Act, referable under sections 191 and 193 of the Labour Relations Act, with compensation available under section 194(4).
This Act creates no criminal offence of its own.
What the assessment covers
The assessment works through 20 questions across 12 duties, scored out of 139. Each answer generates the specific actions needed to close or prove that duty, and a “yes” only counts once its evidence is in, which is what makes the score defensible rather than self-declared.
The questions themselves are part of the assessment.
Find out where you stand on NMW Act
Run the assessment, get your score, and get the exact list of what to fix, with the evidence trail an auditor will ask for.