The Department of Labour is responsible for enforcing the BCEA. The department appoints inspectors who have wide powers to make sure employers obey the Act.

An employee whose employer is not obeying the BCEA can complain to the Department of Labour (not the CCMA). A labour inspector will investigate. An inspector no longer needs to get a written undertaking from an employer who he/she believes is defaulting, and can now issue a compliance order which is enforceable through the Labour Court.

The inspector may issue a ‘compliance order’ to employers who do not obey the BCEA. If the employer ignores thecompliance order, the Department of Labour must refer the matter to the Labour Court to force the employer to obey. Employers are also entitled to appeal against compliance orders to the Director General of Labour or the Labour Court.

If an employee and employer are in a dispute about a matter covered by the Labour Relations Act and they are busy trying to resolve the dispute at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), then the CCMA can also order the employer to pay money that is owed to the employee in terms of the employee’s BCEA rights. For example, if a dismissal is being contested at the CCMA, the CCMA will be able to order an employer to pay outstanding leave owed to the employee. The law is made like this just to simplify procedures and to avoid the matter having to go to both the Department of Labour and the CCMA (and possibly the courts).

Employees can also make their own civil case in the Magistrate’s Court and the Small Claims Court to get money that is owing to them.