The law and deductions from employee’s wages

MANY employers break the law by making unlawful deductions from employees’ wages leaving employees with very little to live on and in worst cases nothing at all. Deductions from employees’ wages are regulated by the Labour Act Chapter 28:01 Section 12A (6), which reads: “No deduction or set-off of any description shall be made from any remuneration except—

(a) Where an employee is absent from work on days other than industrial holidays or days of leave to which he is entitled, the proportionate amount of his remuneration only for the period of such absence;

(b) Amounts which an employer is compelled by law or legal process to pay on behalf of an employee;

(c) Where an employee has received an advance of remuneration due, the amount of such advance, up to an amount not exceeding twenty-five per centum of the gross remuneration owed;

(d) By written stop-order for contributions to insurance policies, pension funds, medical aid societies, building societies, burial societies and registered trade unions;

(e) By written consent of an employee, for repayment of money lent by the employer on terms that have been mutually agreed to between the parties concerned;

(f) An amount recovered for payments made in error.

(7) The aggregate amount of permissible deductions that may be made from the remuneration of any employee in any pay interval shall not exceed twenty-five per centum of the employee’s gross remuneration for that interval:

Provided that upon termination of an employee’s service, an employer may deduct from the total remuneration due to the employee an amount equal to any balance, which may be due to the employer in terms of paragraph (a),(c),(e)or(f)”.

The Act makes it unlawful to deduct any monies from an employee’s salary unless the deductions comply with the given provisions of the Act. However, many employers deduct more than 25 percent of an employee’s wage in any pay interval leaving the employee with nothing to live on.

The law allows the employer to deduct money from wages of an employee who absents himself without authorised leave. However, such employees also run the risk of being disciplined in terms of the code of conduct for absenteeism.

This clause can be used by employers not to pay employees who engage in illegal collective job action.

The employers have to, however, fairly calculate the value of the time not worked. There are also deductions that are related to garnishees or other deduction instructions given by courts related to things such as child support. For these, the employer has to deduct as guided by the law.

Parties can agree to any form of deduction but subsection 7 clearly makes it unlawful to deduct more than 25 percent of an employee’s gross salary. In my opinion this is intended to protect the worker so that despite deductions he continues to earn a living wage.

There are many employers who have exposed workers to deductions that leave them with very little thus affecting productivity negatively when the worker’s salary fails to cover basic needs.

I have seen cases where an employee has two to three burial societies’ deductions and in addition to that the employee has several loans from different banks. While having a burial society membership is commendable, having more than one is a drain on the worker’s wages. At any rate how many times will a worker die?

I am of the view that employers have a moral duty to protect employees from unjust deductions. They have to train workers in personal financial management and also help workers evaluate the costs and benefits or varied deductions so that workers are not overloaded with deductions.

In worse cases, employers dish out loans at a huge interest to employees leaving them in perpetual debt.

When an employee is in heavy debt he is unlikely to give employers their best.

In conclusion, employers have to make deductions from employees’ wages in a manner that is consistent with the law.

*Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on:
Email: [email protected]