The potential challenges and problems with Amendment Bill

Fri, 14 Sep 2012

There are a number of challenges to the amendment bills before Parliament. Top of the list is that there is sufficient research to indicate that some of these amendments will lead to job losses. This could leave a particularly negative impact on small and growing businesses.

Govt promotes fair labour practices on wine farms

Mon, 04 Jun 2012

Stakeholders in the agriculture industry have shown their commitment to ensuring reasonable working conditions by developing an 'ethical seal'. Only farms that follow sound labour practices will be permitted to bear the seal on their products.

Bringing clarity to the proposed new labour legislation

Fri, 01 Jun 2012

Despite some confusion over the exact conditions of temporary employment in the amended Labour Relations Act it is clear that labour brokers will still be allowed to operate. Nritika Singh sheds light on the proposed changes in some of SA's most important labour bills.

Labour department sets course for 2013

Fri, 11 May 2012

Protecting vulnerable workers, reintegrating work seekers into the labour market and ensuring decent work, has been rated as the three priority areas by the Department of Labour over the course of the 2012/13, financial year.

Stakeholders address youth employment issues

Wed, 09 May 2012

The national youth employment situation will come under review when the Department of Labour along with young people, policy-makers and social partners meet to exchange views at the National Youth Employment Summit.

Labour laws to set new course

Tue, 08 May 2012

In March, cabinet approved the submission of the amendment bills for the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) to Parliament. The two will deal with the phenomenon of labour broking and child labour, among other things.

Politicising the trade mark

Mon, 11 Feb 2013

Trademarks can have many grey areas in whether copyright infringements occur. There have been many examples of companies associating themselves with well known politicians. The article below describes how this could infringe upon the politicians' name and what right there is for them to protect their name.

Too sick to attend a disciplinary enquiry

Wed, 30 Jan 2013

Employee misconduct is a common occurence in any workplace. It is vital that HR departments can identify a situation before it escalates. Also to know how to deal with misconduct and the processes that should be followed.

Dismissal based on operational requirements

Wed, 15 Apr 2009

It was found that the employee was not given an opportunity to respond to the allegation that he was rude and aggressive and had had poor customers customer (the reason put forward for retrenchment was financial problems experienced by the company - but the alleged rudeness was the underlying cause.) The result was that the Court found the dismissal unfair, and ordered that the employee be reinstated.

Procedure: Jurisdiction of Bargaining Council in retrenchment dismissal

Tue, 04 Dec 2007

An employee referred a dispute about his dismissal for operational requirements to the bargaining council. (In terms of section 191(12) of the LRA if a single employee is retrenched, the employee may refer the dispute either to arbitration or to the Labour Court.) The conciliation was unsuccessful and a Certificate of Outcome was issued. When the Arbitration commenced, the employer challenged that the Arbitrator had the jurisdiction to proceed. Read how the Labour Court resolved this.

Retrenchment: procedural fairness in retrenchment

Mon, 05 Nov 2007

What can employees do if they feel that the company is not following the procedure as outlined in section 189 of the LRA? This case is an example of the use of s189A to make an application to the Labour Court. This is an "application" (compared to a referral) and would normally be dealt with by submission of papers, but disputes of fact required oral evidence be heard.

Retrenchment: fairness of dismissal

Tue, 06 Nov 2007

Employers must ensure both procedural and substantive fairness in dismissals. In 2002 Section 189A was introduced to ensure that operational requirements dismissals were fair. This case was held in 1998 and provides a good example of why the new section was necessary.

Freedom Park dismisses senior manager

Thu, 31 Jan 2013

Freedom Park has dismissed its head of department for heritage and knowledge following a hearing at the CCMA. The senior manager was dismissed after being found guilty of gross financial misconduct for failing to disclose a conflict of interest with an entity to which a tender had been awarded.

CCMA facilitation process in Amplats retrenchments postponed

Thu, 31 Jan 2013

The planned facilitation process between the CCMA and Amplats has been postponed by 60 days. This will enable them to engage with the Department of Mineral Resources with a view to finding appropriate solutions. Amplats earlier announced that it would be retrenching about 14 000 workers due to the strikes.

When discomfort is not sufficient

Wed, 18 Apr 2012

The question of what constitutes constructive dismissal was raised when an employee laid several charges against her former employer. Jonathan Goldberg discusses the CCMA's ruling.

CCMA reports increased workload

Wed, 02 Nov 2011

The number of cases received by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has increased by 25 percent as a result of the unstable economy, while budgetary constraints are adding to the challenge of providing business health and job security in the country.

The first-timer's guide to attending a CCMA hearing

Fri, 17 Aug 2007

Attending a hearing at the CCMA can be daunting for the first-timer. Our guide for small businesses and those new to the industrial relations field at the CCMA will take you step by step through the processes of a conciliation-arbitration hearing or ConArb as it is known.

CCMA Conciliation Stage Procedures ‘v reaching settlement

Fri, 17 Aug 2007

In this section we look at what to expect from the settlement phase of the Con/Arb meeting at the CCMA.