What must be in an employment contract?

Most people sign an employment contract on their first morning, between the security induction and collecting a laptop, without reading it. Many small business owners hand out a contract downloaded years ago, or nothing at all. Both approaches cause trouble later, because when a dispute arises about pay, leave, notice or a restraint, the first document anyone asks for is the contract.

This guide is part of our Your rights at work: pay, contracts, resigning and retrenchment, which links every guide on the topic.

This guide explains what the law requires an employer to put in writing, which terms apply whether or not they are written down, what no contract can take away, and the clauses worth checking before you sign. It is written for both sides: employees reading an offer, and employers drafting one. Our employment contract template follows the same structure.

Does a contract have to be in writing?

No. A contract of employment can be verbal, or inferred from the fact that someone works and is paid. A worker without a signed contract is still an employee with full protection under labour law, and what the parties actually agreed and did can be proved with payslips, messages and witnesses.

What the law does require is written particulars. Section 29 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA) obliges the employer to give the employee certain written information when the employee starts work. A well drafted contract usually covers all of it, which is why most employers simply use a contract. If the employee cannot understand the document, the employer must explain it in a language and manner the employee understands.

The written particulars in section 29

Section 29(1) lists what the employer must supply in writing:

• the employer's full name and address
• the employee's name and occupation, or a brief description of the work
• the place of work, and if the employee must work at various places, an indication of that
• the date employment began
• the employee's ordinary hours of work and days of work
• the employee's wage, or the rate and method of calculating wages
• the rate of pay for overtime work
• any other cash payments the employee is entitled to
• any payment in kind and its value
• how often remuneration is paid
• any deductions to be made from remuneration
• the leave the employee is entitled to
• the notice period required to end the employment or, for a fixed-term contract, the date it ends
• a description of any bargaining council or sectoral determination covering the employer's business
• any period of employment with a previous employer that counts towards the employee's period of service
• a list of any other documents that form part of the contract, and a place reasonably accessible to the employee where a copy of each can be obtained

When any of these change, section 29(2) requires the employer to revise the particulars and give the employee a copy. The employer must keep the written particulars for three years after the employment ends.

That last item on the list matters more than it looks. Disciplinary codes, leave policies, bonus schemes and commission plans often sit in separate documents. If the contract says they form part of it, the employee must be able to get a copy. An employer that relies on a policy the employee never saw has a weak hand in any dispute.

Records and notices the employer must keep

Two related duties sit next to section 29. Section 30 requires every employer to display at the workplace a statement of employees' rights under the BCEA in the prescribed form, in the official languages spoken there. Section 31 requires the employer to keep a record of each employee's name and occupation, the time worked, the remuneration paid, and the date of birth of any employee under 18, for three years from the date of the last entry. Section 33 also requires a written statement with each payment, which is your payslip, showing the period, the gross pay, each deduction and the amount actually paid. One exception matters for very small businesses: section 28(2)(a) exempts an employer with fewer than five employees from sections 30, 31 and 33 and from the last three items of the section 29 list, although domestic and farm workers must still get a pay statement under their sectoral determinations, and keeping these records is good practice for any employer.

For employers, these records are the first line of defence. If an employee claims unpaid overtime and the employer has no time records, the employee's version is hard to dispute. Our employee cost calculator helps an employer see the full monthly cost of an employee before an offer is made.

Terms the law puts in every contract

Some terms apply whether or not anyone wrote them down.

The basic conditions of employment. Section 4 of the BCEA says each basic condition is a term of every employment contract, unless another law gives a more favourable term, the condition has been lawfully varied, or the contract itself is more favourable. So the statutory minimums on working hours, overtime pay, annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave, notice and severance pay apply automatically. A contract that promises 10 days' annual leave is read as giving at least the statutory minimum.

The national minimum wage. Under the National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018, the rate from 1 March 2026 is R30.23 an hour for most workers. It is a term of every contract and cannot be waived.

Common law duties. The employee must work, obey lawful and reasonable instructions, and act in good faith towards the employer, which includes not competing with it or misusing its confidential information while employed. The employer must pay the agreed remuneration and provide safe working conditions, a duty also imposed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993.

What a contract cannot take away

A contract can improve on the law but cannot go below it. Specifically:

• BCEA minimums. Some basic conditions can be varied only by a collective agreement or a sectoral or ministerial determination, not by an individual contract, and some cannot be varied at all.
• LRA protections. The right not to be unfairly dismissed, the right not to be subjected to an unfair labour practice, and the right to join a trade union cannot be signed away in a contract. A clause saying the employer may dismiss "at will" or "without reason" has no effect on those rights.
• The label. Calling someone an independent contractor does not make them one. The law looks at the reality of the relationship. Our guide on whether contractors are protected by labour law explains the test.
• Fixed-term rules. For employees earning below the BCEA earnings threshold, a fixed-term contract longer than three months needs a justifiable reason. Read the rules for fixed-term contracts before relying on one.

A contract also cannot let the employer change your terms whenever it likes. A clause allowing the employer to amend the contract unilaterally is likely to be treated with suspicion. See can my employer change my contract without consent.

Probation

A contract may provide for a probation period. The Code of Good Practice: Dismissal, 2025, which came into force on 4 September 2025, says probation should be determined in advance and be of reasonable duration, having regard to the nature of the job and the time needed to assess the employee. During probation the employer should give reasonable guidance, such as instruction, training or counselling. Before deciding not to confirm an appointment, the employer must let the employee make representations. Probation may not be used to deprive employees of permanent status, for example by dismissing people at the end of probation and replacing them with new hires.

Probation is not a period without protection. It lowers the bar for dismissing for poor performance or unsuitability, but a fair process is still required. Our probation checker tests a proposed period.

Restraints of trade and confidentiality

A restraint of trade stops you from working for a competitor, or starting a competing business, for a period after you leave. It is enforceable only if it protects a legitimate interest, such as trade secrets or customer connections, and is reasonable in duration, area and scope. Our guide on whether your restraint of trade is enforceable covers the test courts apply.

A confidentiality clause is different. It protects the employer's confidential information and usually continues after you leave without any time limit. It does not stop you working elsewhere, but it does stop you taking client lists, pricing or other confidential material with you.

Worked example

This example is illustrative. Lerato is offered a job as a bookkeeper at a Pretoria engineering firm at R22 000 a month. The two-page contract states her salary, a 40-hour week and "leave as per company policy". It says nothing about notice, overtime or deductions, and lists no other documents. Clause 9 says she may not work for any business in Gauteng in a related field for five years after leaving.

Lerato asks for the leave policy before signing, and for the notice period and overtime rate in writing. Even if the firm refuses, the BCEA supplies the minimums: four weeks' notice after a year, 15 working days' annual leave a year on a five-day week, and overtime at one and a half times her normal rate if she earns below the earnings threshold. The five-year, province-wide restraint is a red flag: a bookkeeper rarely has the kind of confidential knowledge that justifies it, and a court may refuse to enforce it in full.

Change the facts: if Lerato's contract is silent and she leaves after six months, the firm cannot rely on an unwritten "one month's notice" rule. She owes two weeks, the BCEA minimum, unless she agreed to more.

What to check before signing

1. Your job title and duties, place of work, and start date.
2. Your pay: basic salary, allowances, how commission or bonuses are calculated, and whether any bonus is guaranteed. See whether a bonus is a legal right.
3. Hours, overtime and whether you must work Sundays or public holidays.
4. Leave, including whether the contract improves on the minimums.
5. The notice period, and whether it is longer than the BCEA minimum.
6. Probation: how long, and how you will be assessed.
7. Any restraint of trade, confidentiality or intellectual property clause.
8. Every policy that forms part of the contract. Ask for copies.
9. Whether the employer is described correctly, including its registered name.

For employers: do not copy a contract from another business without checking it against your sector's bargaining council agreement or sectoral determination, and have it reviewed before you rely on a restraint.