Notice pay and severance calculator for South African employers

Someone is leaving. Enter the dates and the pay and see the notice you owe, the leave to pay out, and the severance if it is a retrenchment, all from the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

If the employee works the notice, this is the last day of the notice.

Paid per
Days worked a week
Farm or domestic worker?

Choose Yes for a cleaner, nanny, gardener, carer or anyone working in a private home, and for any farm worker. They get four weeks' notice after six months.

The cycle is the 12 months from the start date or its last anniversary.

The notice period
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Questions employers ask

How much notice must I give?

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act sets the minimum in section 37: one week if the employee has worked for you six months or less, two weeks for more than six months up to a year, and four weeks for a year or more. A farm or domestic worker gets four weeks after six months. A contract can set a longer period, but it may not make the employee give more notice than you do. Notice must be in writing, and it may not run during annual, sick or maternity leave.

When is severance pay due?

Only when you dismiss for operational requirements, which is a retrenchment, or the business is wound up as insolvent. Section 41 sets at least one week of remuneration for each completed year of continuous service. Nothing is due on a resignation, a dismissal for misconduct or poor work, or a fixed-term contract that ran its course. An employee who unreasonably turns down a reasonable offer of other work with you or another employer loses the severance.

How is leave paid out when someone leaves?

Section 40 says you must pay for every day of annual leave the employee has earned and not taken. The Act gives 21 consecutive days for each 12 months worked, which is 15 working days on a five-day week and 18 on a six-day week. For the part of the current cycle not yet complete, once the employee has worked for you longer than four months, you pay one day for every 17 days they worked or were paid for. Each day is paid at what they would have earned by working it.

Can the employee claim UIF?

Yes, after a retrenchment, a dismissal, or a contract that ended, as long as UIF was paid over. A resignation does not qualify. Give them a completed UI-19 form and a certificate of service, which section 42 of the Act requires, and pay the wages owed up to the last day with the amounts this calculator shows.