Every employer in South Africa must give each employee a payslip, by law, for every pay period. It is not optional and it does not matter how small the business is or whether the worker is full-time, part-time or casual. Which law says so depends on who you employ. For household staff — a housekeeper, nanny, gardener, driver or carer working in a private home — it is Sectoral Determination 7, clause 6(1), which lists eleven things the statement must show. For everyone else it is section 33 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). The lists are close to identical in practice, and no particular format is prescribed, so a handwritten slip counts.
One difference worth knowing: the exemption you may have read about, for employers with fewer than five employees, is a business exemption under the BCEA. It does not reach a household — a household owes a payslip no matter how few staff it has.
What a payslip must contain
The BCEA says the payslip must show, in writing:
- The employer's name and address.
- The employee's name and job title.
- The pay period the payslip covers.
- The gross pay (total earnings before deductions).
- The hours worked, including ordinary and overtime hours where relevant.
- The employee's pay rate and any overtime rate.
- Each deduction made, listed separately (UIF, PAYE, any agreed advances).
- The net pay — what the employee actually receives.
- If relevant, details needed to calculate pay, such as the number of days worked for a day-rate worker.
Why the payslip protects the employer
It is tempting to think of a payslip as a favour to the worker. It is actually your own record. If a wage dispute reaches the CCMA, the payslip is the document that proves what you paid, what you deducted and why. Employers who cannot produce payslips almost always lose those disputes, because the law puts the record-keeping duty on them.
Giving a clear payslip every month also prevents the disputes in the first place. When a worker can see exactly how their pay was worked out — the days, the overtime, the UIF — there is nothing to argue about.
Deductions you are allowed to make
You may only deduct from a wage what the law allows or what the employee has agreed to in writing. UIF and PAYE are required by law. A salary advance is treated differently depending on the regime. For household staff, Sectoral Determination 7 clause 8(d) permits the repayment but caps it at a tenth of the wage due on that payday — and their agreement does not lift that ceiling, because clause 8 is a closed list. For business employees, BCEA section 34's written-consent route applies. WageDesk records every advance with a confirmation step and an audit trail, and enforces the tenth automatically, so the deduction is both documented and within the limit.
Getting payslips out every month
Producing a compliant payslip by hand every month, for every worker, is where most small employers slip. WageDesk generates a compliant payslip automatically at the end of each month — with the gross, the hours, the UIF and PAYE, the leave balances and the net pay — and sends it straight to the employee. See how WageDesk works, or read up on UIF contributions and overtime pay while you are here.
Need one right now? The free payslip generator prints a compliant payslip from your browser - every required item, nothing stored.