December bonus and leave pay for domestic workers: what you owe at year end

Every December the same three questions come up in households that employ someone: do I have to pay a bonus, can I close the house for the holidays and call it leave, and can I simply pay out the leave my employee has not taken? The answers are short, and one of them surprises most employers.

Is a December bonus compulsory?

No law makes a 13th cheque compulsory for a domestic worker. Sectoral Determination 7, the rules for the domestic worker sector, sets the minimum wage, hours, leave and notice. It does not require a bonus.

A bonus becomes something you owe in two ways:

• It is in the contract. If the employment contract says "a 13th cheque equal to one month's pay, paid in December", it is part of the wage and must be paid.
• You have always paid it. A bonus paid every December for years, without saying it was a once-off, can become an established practice. Stopping it suddenly can be challenged as an unfair change to conditions of employment.

If you want to give a bonus without creating an obligation, say so in writing each time: "a once-off, discretionary gift for 2026, not a promise for future years".

Tax and UIF on the bonus

• Most domestic workers pay no PAYE on a bonus. For 2026/27 a person under 65 pays no income tax until their income for the year passes R99,000 (the R17,820 primary rebate divided by the 18% bottom rate).
• At the minimum wage, a full month's bonus stays below that. Twelve months at R5,894.85 is R70,738.20. Add a 13th cheque of R5,894.85 and the year comes to R76,633.05, still under R99,000.
• Higher earners do pay PAYE on it. SARS works the tax on the year's salary with and without the bonus, and the difference is the PAYE on the bonus.
• UIF is 1% from you and 1% from your employee on the month's pay, so a bonus paid with December's salary raises that month's UIF.

Put in your own employee's salary and bonus. The calculator starts at the minimum-wage example, so it shows no tax:

Calculator by CalcSA - open the bonus tax calculator if it does not load.

Show the bonus as its own line on the December payslip, separate from the normal wage, so neither of you confuses it with overtime or holiday pay.

Closing for the holidays: can you count it as leave?

Yes, within limits. Under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, annual leave is taken when the two of you agree, or, if there is no agreement, at a time you decide. Many households close from mid-December to early January and count those days as annual leave.

• Give notice. Tell your employee early, ideally now, which days will be leave. A message in October is far better than an announcement on 15 December.
• Public holidays are not leave days. 16 December, Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall inside most shutdowns. A public holiday on a normal working day is paid as a holiday and does not use up annual leave. See public holiday pay for December 2026.
• Pay leave before it starts. Leave pay is due before the leave begins, or on the normal pay day if you agree that in writing.
• Check the balance. The entitlement is three weeks per 12-month leave cycle. For someone who works five days a week that is 15 working days.

What if your employee has no leave left?

This is where employers get caught. If you close for three weeks and your employee has only one week of leave left, you cannot simply treat the other two weeks as unpaid. Your employee was ready to work and you chose to close. The safe course is to pay the normal wage for the days beyond the leave balance, or agree in writing, in advance, how those days will be handled.

Can you pay out unused leave instead?

This is the one that surprises people. While the job continues, you may not pay your employee instead of granting leave. The Act allows leave to be paid out only when employment ends. The rule exists so that people actually rest, and it applies even when your employee would prefer the money.

• Unused leave carries forward, but it must be granted no later than six months after the end of the leave cycle in which it was earned.
• A "leave buy-back" in December is not a substitute. If you pay it and the leave is later disputed, you may have to grant the days as well.
• If you want to reward a year of hard work, use a bonus. That is what a bonus is for, and it carries no legal risk.

If the job ends at year end

Some arrangements end in December: a family relocates, children start school, or your employee resigns to go home. Then leave must be paid out with the final pay:

• Leave from a completed cycle that was not taken is paid in full.
• Leave in the current, unfinished cycle is paid pro rata, at one day for every 17 days worked.
• The daily rate is the weekly wage (monthly wage x 3 / 13) divided by the days your employee normally works in a week.

At the minimum wage of R30.23 an hour, 45 hours a week, the monthly wage is about R5,894.85:

• Weekly wage: R5,894.85 x 3 / 13 = R1,360.35
• Daily rate on a five-day week: R1,360.35 / 5 = R272.07
• A full year's 15 days, none taken: 15 x R272.07 = R4,081.05
• Six months into the cycle with 2 days taken: about 130 days worked earns 130 / 17 = 7.6 days, so roughly 5.6 days or R1,536 owed.

Work out your own figure. The calculator starts at a full cycle with no leave taken:

Calculator by CalcSA - open the leave pay calculator if it does not load.

Notice pay, severance and the certificate of service are covered in ending a domestic worker's job.

A year-end checklist

• Read the contract for a bonus clause. If there is none and you have never paid one, a bonus is your choice.
• Agree the shutdown dates in writing now, and count which days are leave and which are public holidays.
• Check the leave balance so you know whether the shutdown is fully covered.
• Pay leave before it starts, and put the bonus on its own payslip line.
• Declare December's pay to UIF, bonus included, as you do every month. See UIF for domestic workers, step by step.

General information, not legal advice. Every figure we use is on the rates page with its source.