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Employing a Gardener - Let us help you get to the root of the problem

18 May 2022, Dries Knoetze 4005

I am confronted with questions relating the employment of a Gardener on a regular basis and thought it a good idea to blog about some of these regular questions and answers to assist the public.

The first question always is whether a Gardener is an employee or contract (day worker)?

The simple answer is your Gardener is an employee, which means that your relationship with your Gardener must be regulated by an employment agreement, and if no agreement exists the relationship will be governed by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

The second question is - as an employee, must my Gardener be registered for UIF even thought he only works once a week?

As an employer, you must register your Gardener with the Unemployment Insurance Fund, you must however inform your employee that because of this registration 1% of his salary will be deducted and paid over to the Fund. You as employer must register yourself as an employer and your Gardener as an employee with the Fund and also contribute 1% of the employee's salary to this Fund.

You must further be registered with the Compensation fund to ensure that if your worker is injured, he will be able to claim for compensation in terms of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act and not turn to you for this compensation.

The third question is what should I pay my Gardener?
The specific amount is determined by the Minister from time to time.
In the more recent determination on 1 March 2021 the current rate of pay is R19.09 per hour.
Which thus means that you must at least pay your Gardener an amount of R152.72 for an 8 hour working day.

I hope that the above will assist you with the regular queries relating to the relationship between you and your Gardener and should you wish to discuss these matters in depth or have other questions, please feel free to contact me.

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