SA Wages Pro

Night Work and the Night Shift Allowance

4 min read — Updated September 2026

The General Rule: 18:00 to 06:00

Under section 17 of the BCEA, night work is work performed between 18:00 and 06:00. A worker who works those hours must either receive an allowance, or work reduced hours for the same pay.

The Act does not fix the size of the allowance - that is for you and the worker to agree. It does require that the worker agrees to night work, that transport is available to them at the start and end of the shift, and that regular night workers are offered health checks.

Farm Workers: 20:00 to 04:00, and It Must Be Paid

Sectoral Determination 13 sets different rules for the farm sector, and they are stricter in the ways that matter:

  • The night work window is narrower - 20:00 to 04:00, not 18:00 to 06:00
  • The allowance is at least 10% of the ordinary daily wage
  • It must be PAID. Unlike the BCEA, it may not be swapped for time off

Giving a farm worker an extra afternoon off instead of the night allowance does not satisfy SD13. The money has to be paid.

How the Allowance Is Calculated

The allowance is a percentage of the ordinary daily wage, counted per night shift day - not per hour.

A farm worker on R30.23 an hour with a 9-hour day has an ordinary daily wage of R272.07. At the SD13 minimum of 10%, each night shift adds R27.21. Five night shifts in the period add R136.04.

Record the number of night shift days for the period and SA Wages Pro adds the allowance as its own payslip line, showing the percentage used.

For farm and seasonal workers the 10% floor is applied automatically, even if a lower figure is stored against the employee.

Non-Farm Workers Need a Percentage Set

For workers outside the farm sector there is no statutory percentage, so SA Wages Pro cannot guess one. If you record night shift days and no allowance percentage has been set on the employee, the payslip warns you that section 17 requires either an allowance or reduced hours.

Set the percentage you have agreed on the employee's premium rates, or arrange the reduced hours instead - but do not simply leave it at zero and carry on.

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