Labour Law

Should an employer fail to bring any witnesses to a CCMA arbitration the employer’s representative will find it extremely difficult to win the case because witness testimony normally forms the crucial core of the procedure at any hearing. 

Pregnant employees are strongly protected under South African law. There are no fewer than six pieces of legislation that require employers to treat pregnant and post-pregnant employees with the greatest of care. One of these pieces of legislation is the Code Of Good Practice On The Protection Of Employees During Pregnancy And After The Birth Of A Child (The Code).

The legal procedures that an employer is required to follow in implementing dismissals for misconduct, retrenchments and poor work performance are all different. For instance, it is not normally acceptable to use the procedure laid down for retrenchments in order to deal with poor work performance. 

Section 158 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) gives the Labour Court the power to issue interdicts preventing employers, employees or trade unions from proceeding with threatened or current actions. 

What rights do employers have to discipline employees for misconduct perpetrated outside the workplace? While employers have very few rights under the Labour Relations Act (LRA) they do have the right to discipline and even to dismiss employees for work related misconduct. However, a dismissal will only be upheld by the CCMA, bargaining council or Labour Court where:

It has become a practice by employers to insert automatic termination clauses into employment contracts for reasons including the following:

Whether employers, who issue provisional ultimatums to employees who participate in unprotected strike action, may subsequently dismiss employees who comply with the ultimatum. 

The employment relationship involves two parties - the employer and the employee - and accordingly there are three possible ways in which this relationship can end, or terminate. 

Now is the right time to work with a professional organisation that can help you prepare your business so you and your employees are safe.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has released an online list of employers who have received a special Covid-19 grant meant to pay their staff but several complaints have been filed which prompted Employment and Labour Minister, Thulas Nxesi to hold a press briefing to address the matter - this is what happened.

Does the termination of an employee’s fixed term contract of employment, where such employee earns below the earnings threshold and is employed to perform work of a permanent nature, amount to an unfair dismissal.

In the arbitration between the National Union of Mineworkers obo Donald Andile Mchunu v Tronox Mineral Sands (case number KNRB1750-18) the Commissioner had to decide whether the applicant, the second best candidate, was entitled to be appointed to a vacant position because the best candidate declined the offer.

South African labour law has developed a rich body of case law since the Labour Relations Act was first introduced in 1995, and most employees are well aware of their rights not be unfairly dismissed, and to not be subject to unfair labour practices. 

Whether an employee who makes a false allegation of racism against another employee can be dismissed?

Have you ever suspected fraudulent behaviour in the workplace? And considered polygraph testing as a means to uncovering the truth? Hear what the experts have to say before you embark on this irreversible course of action.

Very often, an employee is suspended while an investigation is conducted into allegations of misconduct, or pending the holding and outcome of a disciplinary hearing. 

The National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 (NMWA) came into effect on 1 January 2019.