Labour Law Amendment Bill published for public comment

On 26 February 2026, the Minister of Employment and Labour published the Labour Law Amendment Bill, 2025 for public comment (the Bill).  The Bill proposes wide-ranging amendments to the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (BCEA), Employment Equity Act, 1998 (EEA), the Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001 (UIA), and the National Minimum Wage Act, 2018 (NMWA).

The proposed amendments follow extensive consultations with NEDLAC over a period of more than two years, as well as the Constitutional Court’s judgment in Van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour granting equal parental leave to all parents.

The key proposed changes include:

Protection for on-call and zero-hours workers

A proposed section 9B for the BCEA introduces minimum protections for employees in “on-call”, “zero-hours” or “if-and-when” contracts. 

Employers will be required to specify maximum hours, availability periods and notice periods for reporting and cancellation of work.  If an employer cancels work without giving the required notice, the employee must be paid for the cancelled hours.

Parental leave

In line with the Constitutional Court judgment in Van Wyk, the Bill proposes providing a single, gender-neutral parental leave framework. 

All parents, whether by birth, adoption or surrogacy, will be entitled to four months’ parental leave, limited to once a year.  Where both parents are employed, the leave entitlement will be four months and ten days and may be shared between them.

The age limit for adoption-related parental leave will be extended to adopting children under six.

The Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001 will be amended in accordance with the proposed changes to the BCEA.

Severance pay doubled

Statutory severance pay for retrenched employees is proposed to increase from one week’s remuneration to two weeks’ remuneration for each completed year of continuous service.  The proposed increased entitlement will only apply to years of service commencing after the amendment comes into effect.

Broader definition of “employee”

The Bill introduces a wider definition of “employee” for enforcement and dispute resolution purposes, extending protection to individuals who perform work or provide services for another person and are not conducting an independent trade or business.

Harassment claims expanded

Under the proposed amendments to the EEA, employees will be able to refer any claim of unfair discrimination on the grounds of harassment, not just sexual harassment, to the CCMA for arbitration.

National Minimum Wage: deferred payments excluded

The Bill proposes that deferred payments, such as retirement fund contributions, may not be taken into account when calculating whether an employer complies with the national minimum wage. 

New businesses exempted from bargaining council agreements

Under the LRA proposed amendments, newly established businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be exempt from bargaining council collective agreements, on the terms and conditions of employment, for their first two years of operation.

Simplified disciplinary procedure during probation

The Bill proposes a significant amendment to section 188 of the LRA which deals with fair procedures for dismissals for misconduct or incapacity.  Employers will not be required to provide an employee with a reasonable opportunity to respond to the reason for dismissal during the first three months of their employment, or during a longer probation period (if the longer period is reasonably justifiable).

Capped remedies for high earners

Employees earning above R1.8 million per annum (adjusted annually for inflation) will not be entitled to reinstatement or re-employment as a remedy for unfair dismissal, unless the dismissal was automatically unfair. 

Compensation for unfair dismissal disputes will also be capped at a prescribed maximum amount.

Changes to section 189A of the LRA

The Bill proposes significant changes to the manner in which disputes in large scale retrenchments will be adjudicated.  Where parties have made use of the facilitated process, a dispute under section 189A may be referred directly to the Labour Court (without a further referral for conciliation).  Where a facilitator is not appointed, a dispute must first be referred to the CCMA for conciliation. 

The Bill proposes to do away with the current separate process for challenging the procedural fairness of a retrenchment.  The Bill proposes simplifying the process by allowing unions and employees to refer a dispute about the procedural or substantive fairness of dismissals to the Labour Court. 

The deadline for submitting comments on the Bill is 28 March 2026.  Please reach out to our Employment and Labour team if you would like to discuss the amendments.

Read the Labour Law Amendment Bill here.