IIRC (IANAL), if you earn below a certain threshold in South Africa, and you're not in a "management" position, the law guarantees you overtime pay and pay on p

IIRC (IANAL), if you earn below a certain threshold in South Africa, and you're not in a "management" position, the law guarantees you overtime pay and pay on public holidays at a fixed rate (e.g. double in the case of public holidays). It's a big enough deal that in the past when two public holidays fell on the same day in a given year the national worker unions have successfully requested the government declare a new public holiday since the workers they represent end up losing out on a day of double wages. For instance, 25 and 26 December 2011 fell on Sunday and Monday respectively, and by law public holidays that fall on a Sunday automatically move to the following Monday. That meant workers who would ordinarily work 25 and 26 December earning double wages two days in a row would only earn double wages for one day. In a country where per capita income is barely enough to survive on for the bulk of the population, that's a big deal. If you earn above the threshold, or you're in a "management" position, the idea is that you don't need this protection and have freely negotiated your contractual terms. I think it's a good balance between: 1. legislating mandatory overtime/work hours (a bad thing, IMO; e.g. there are many entrepreneurs happy to work for peanuts for long hours out of choice, and plenty of managers who won't work for peanuts but accept long hours as part of the job and the rewards that implies) 2. ensuring that cheap (unskilled) labour is not abused (important in a country like South Africa where there is 30-40% unemployment).