Labour Court rejects City workers’ bid for paid overtime

Fourteen City of Cape Town workers have lost their legal challenge to receive overtime pay, despite a judge recognizing their frustration over working additional hours without compensation. The Labour Court in Cape Town dismissed their appeal on Thursday, October 8, 2026, after an August 7 ruling found they had not proven a contractual right to overtime payments.

The workers, representing the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU), were employed in the City's Traffic Services, Metro Police, and Events Management departments. They contested the City's decision to cease paying overtime as of January 2024, even though they were still required to work beyond their regular 40-hour week.

In the original hearing, two employees testified that the overtime cut had reduced their earnings by 12% to 15%. Keith Moses, who worked in Traffic Services for 24 years, said the loss of overtime pay had impacted his earnings, family responsibilities, social life, and wellbeing. Shoukard-Allie Rawoot, an Events Management employee, testified that his roles often required working evenings, weekends, and public holidays, including events like the Rugby Sevens, Cape Town Cycle Tour, Two Oceans Marathon, and significant state memorial services.

He reported working between 20 and 70 overtime hours monthly but received only his regular salary since January 2024. The City argued that overtime payments were determined by its employment policies, which could be changed, and that the modifications did not violate the employees' contracts. Judge T Gandidze dismissed the employees' contractual claim in August, concluding they had not established a right to paid overtime under their employment contracts.

The workers later applied for leave to appeal. Dismissing the latest application, Gandidze found no reasonable chance of another court reaching a different decision. However, he did not order IMATU to pay the City's legal costs, stating that the claim was not frivolous. He noted that IMATU's members were rightly upset by the City's insistence on requiring overtime work without remuneration, contrary to their practice of paying overtime for several years. The court denied leave to appeal and made no order regarding costs.