Tag: South African Payroll Association (SAPA)

As the year quickly draws to a close, we have been inundated with queries regarding their expected annual bonuses in December. Many of the enquiries stem from employees who don’t know if their bonus constitutes a thirteenth cheque or a performance bonus.

National Payroll Week is celebrated from 31 August to 4 September 2020, in South Africa. Payroll week is aimed to highlight the amount and complexity of the work performed by payroll professionals.

To date, the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) has paid over R15,7-billion to 2,288,295 in its COVID-19 relief payments. Many employers, however, are still having their applications rejected. Small, seemingly insignificant discrepancies in submissions are seen as mistakes and will lead to the submission being rejected.

Payroll practitioners have access to vast amounts of personal, financial and health-related information of staff. The impact of European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Protection of Personal Information Bill falls on payroll in terms of action and accountability.

We often receive queries about pay slips. Many times, these queries stem from employees not understanding how their salaries and wages are structured, as well as uncertainty about salary codes. There are two types of pay slips - the pre-employment ‘dummy’ pay slip and monthly pay slips. The ‘dummy’ pay slip should include an estimation of what you will be earning along with a detailed explanation.

The South African Reserve Bank and National Treasury have become aware of an increase in payroll deductions in recent years. Stakeholders were engaged to create a regulatory framework to govern payroll deductions and the resulting proposal has led to three very limited options on how companies can govern employees’ payroll deductions.

The Department of Labour has issued draft regulations that will eventually open the door for refugees and asylum seekers to claim benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

President Cyril Ramaphosa says that all South Africans will be covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) by 2025, but there is still little clarity as to how the NHI will be funded.

Working time including overtime is regulated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, but many workers are not familiar with the technicalities of these laws and many employers do not adhere to the rules.

For South African companies who have the available resources, there is a great initiative from the government which will allow companies to help employees and their families gain an education.Education should never be limited to just the rich and powerful. We need to empower a whole generation by giving them the education they need to better their lives.