Two jobs, one worker: when your domestic worker also works for another household

Plenty of domestic workers do not work for one household. Your employee might come to you on Thursdays and Fridays and work for a neighbour from Monday to Wednesday. That is normal, and it is legal. It does change how some of the rules apply, and it is easy to assume the other household "has it covered". It does not.

The basic rule: every household is its own employer

• There is no "main employer". The law does not let one household carry the duties for the others. Each one that employs your employee has its own obligations.
• Your hours are the only hours that count for you. The 24-hours-a-month test for UIF and leave looks at the hours your employee works for you, not the total across all jobs.
• The minimum wage applies to each job. R30.23 an hour from 1 March 2026, for every ordinary hour worked for you. A good rate from the other household does not make up for a low one from you.
• The four-hour rule applies to each job. If your employee works a short morning for you and the afternoon elsewhere, you still pay at least four hours for your morning.

UIF: each employer registers and pays separately

• Register if your employee works 24 hours or more a month for you. One 6-hour day a week (about 26 hours a month) is already over the line.
• Contribute on what you pay. You deduct 1% of the wage you pay and add 1% of your own. The other household does the same on its wage. You do not contribute on their wage.
• Under 24 hours with you, you are excluded - even if your employee is registered by the other households. See our guide to char workers under 24 hours a month.
• When the job with you ends, you complete the UI-19 for your own employment only. Do not wait for the other household to do anything.

Hours: the limits apply per employer

• The 45-hour weekly limit in the BCEA is about the hours worked for one employer. It does not add up the hours across households.
• Overtime is yours only if it happens on your time. If your employee works more than the agreed ordinary hours for you, that is overtime you pay at 1.5 times.
• Do not ask your employee to "make up" hours lost at another job. Agree your own days and hours in writing and stick to them.

Leave: built up job by job

• Annual leave: three weeks per leave cycle, counted in the days your employee normally works for you. Two days a week with you means 6 days of leave a year from you. The alternative is one day for every 17 days worked, which comes to about the same.
• Sick leave: the days your employee would normally work for you in six weeks, over a 36-month cycle. Two days a week means 12 sick days per cycle from you. In the first six months, it is one day for every 26 days worked.
• Family responsibility leave: section 27 of the BCEA applies only to an employee who has worked for you for more than four months and works at least four days a week for you.

That last rule catches people out. A worker who does three days for one household and two days for another works five days a week, but neither household reaches four days. On the wording of section 27, neither household owes family responsibility leave. Nothing stops you from giving it anyway, and many employers do. See our sick leave and family responsibility leave guide.

COIDA, payslips and the contract

• COIDA: since the Constitutional Court's Mahlangu judgment in November 2020, domestic workers are covered for injuries at work. Each household registers with the Compensation Fund for its own employment. An injury on your premises, on your day, is reported by you. See our COIDA guide.
• Payslip: you give one with every payment you make, showing only your hours and your deductions. See what must be on a payslip.
• Contract: your written contract covers your days and hours. It is worth naming the days your employee works elsewhere, so nobody is confused about who the employer is on a given day.

Worked example: two days a week with you

Your employee works Monday to Wednesday for a neighbour and Thursday and Friday for you, 8 hours a day.

• Hours with you: 2 x 8 = 16 hours a week, about 69 hours a month - well over 24.
• Minimum pay: 16 x R30.23 = R483.68 a week.
• Average month: R483.68 x 52 / 12 = R2,095.95.
• UIF: 1% of R2,095.95 = R20.96 deducted from the wage, and R20.96 from you.
• Annual leave from you: 2 days x 3 weeks = 6 days a year.
• Sick leave from you: 2 days x 6 weeks = 12 days per 36-month cycle.
• Family responsibility leave from you: none required, because two days is fewer than four - but you may agree to give it.

The neighbour does the same sums on three days a week, separately.

Check your own minimum pay. This calculator starts at the example - 8 hours a day, 2 days a week:

Calculator by CalcSA - open the minimum wage calculator if it does not load.

Then your share of UIF. This one starts at R2,095.95 a month and 69 hours with you; change the hours to see where the 24-hour line falls:

Calculator by CalcSA - open the UIF contributions calculator if it does not load.

Common mistakes when you share a worker

• "The other household pays UIF, so we don't need to." Their registration covers their wage only.
• Counting total hours across all jobs to decide whether UIF or leave applies to you. Only your hours count.
• Paying a lower rate because "it is only two days". The minimum wage is per hour, whatever the number of days.
• Arranging days around the other household without telling your employee in writing. A change of days is a change of terms - agree it.

How HomeHR helps

• The HomeHR payslip maker works out a payslip for your days only, with the UIF line when your hours reach 24 a month.
• See UIF for domestic workers, step by step to register your share.
• See hours, leave and contract rules for what to put in your written contract.

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