SA Wages Pro

Sunday Pay: 2x or 1.5x?

4 min read — Updated September 2026

There Are Two Sunday Rates

Section 16 of the BCEA sets two rates for Sunday work, and which one applies depends on the worker, not on the job they happened to do that day:

  • 2x the normal rate - the worker does not ordinarily work Sundays
  • 1.5x the normal rate - the worker ordinarily works Sundays

What "Ordinarily" Actually Means

This is the one people get wrong, and it costs money in both directions.

"Ordinarily" means Sunday is part of the worker's standing roster - a normal working day for them, built into how they work every week. A dairy hand on a seven-day milking rotation ordinarily works Sundays. So does a stock hand whose shift pattern includes every second Sunday.

A worker pulled in for a Sunday because the weather turned, or because the harvest had to come off, is working occasionally. Sunday is not part of their normal week, so they must still be paid 2x.

Paying 1.5x for an occasional Sunday is underpayment. Being busy every Sunday during harvest does not make Sunday an ordinary working day - a season of Sundays is still occasional if Sunday is not on the worker's standing roster.

How SA Wages Pro Decides

SA Wages Pro reads this off the employee's recorded work days rather than asking you the same question on every payslip.

If Sunday is ticked as one of their working days, they ordinarily work Sundays and the rate is 1.5x. If it is not ticked, the rate is 2x.

The ticked work days are therefore not just a diary - they set the Sunday rate. Check them when you add a worker, and again whenever a roster changes.

Workers on an alternating roster - every second Sunday, for example - are handled the same way, using their alternating work days.

A Short Sunday Can Never Pay Less Than a Full Day

Section 16 also puts a floor under Sunday pay. If a worker comes in on a Sunday and the premium calculation works out to less than their ordinary daily wage, they must still be paid the ordinary daily wage.

This only bites on short shifts. A full shift at 1.5x or 2x is already well above a day's wage. But one hour of Sunday work is not paid as an hour - it is paid as a day.

SA Wages Pro raises the amount for you and says so in the payslip warnings.

Farm Workers Living Off the Farm

Sectoral Determination 13 adds one more rule for the farm sector. A farm worker who does not live on the farm and works on a Sunday is treated as having worked at least 2 hours, even if the job took twenty minutes.

A worker who lives on the farm did not travel in, so this deeming rule does not apply to them.

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