Articles

Will ill health affect your employment?

Incapacity is the failure or inability of an employee to work according to the required standard of the job. It encompasses poor work performance....

Executive suspensions

A company may be faced with a situation where it has to suspend a member of its executive management pending an investigation into allegations of serious misconduct or the holding of a disciplinary enquiry....

Big Brother is governed by strict rules in the workplace

In the technology-driven age we live in, employers may often find themselves in a situation where the monitoring of their employees' email and internet use becomes necessary, either to investigate suspected wrongdoing or to prevent the abuse of company resources by employees for personal reasons....

Clients to blame for lawyer’s undoing?

The Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, has provided for the establishment of dispute resolution agencies such as the Commission of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), Bargaining Councils and the Labour Court....

How a trade union earns recognition by employer

The recent strike by Woolworths employees related to the recognition of the trade union, Saccawu, causing many employers raising questions about the rights of trade unions....

Discipline: treating like cases alike

An employer must apply the penalty of dismissal consistently with the way in which it has been applied to the same and other employees in the past and consistently as between two or more employees who participate in the misconduct under consideration....

False accusations of racism are punishable

The Labour Appeal Court and the Labour Courts have come out strongly against racism in the workplace. The reason for such approach is obvious – the constitution and other pieces of legislation, including labour legislation, outlaw historically institutionalised racism in SA. ...

Find out if you are legally employed

The Labour Relations Act protects employees, employers and their respective bargaining agents...

Bosses have rights, too, when suspension looms

Do different rules apply to the suspension of a member of executive management and more junior employees?...

Representation in disciplinary hearings

Representation of trade union members by shop stewards in internal disciplinary proceedings is common in the South African workplace....

Do illegal foreigners have employment protection?

The Labour Court recently decided in a precedent setting judgment that illegal foreigners who are employed by South African employers enjoy the same employment law rights as South African citizens....

Your contract is not easy to change

In terms of Section 29 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, when an employee starts working, the employer must supply the employee with a contract of employment....

The penalty must fit the crime

The publicity surrounding the alleged failure of Kulula airlines to comply with certain provisions of the Employment Equity Act, 1998 by the labour department late last year, focussed attention on the issue of non-compliance of certain obligations in terms of the act....

Non-union ‘free riders’ can be forced to pay up

The Labour Relations Act helps unions to become strong and stable by providing for agency shop agreements. An agency shop is an agreement that requires non-union employees to pay an amount into a special fund administered by the union (agency fee)....

Whistleblowers in the workplace

Crime is regrettably very prevalent in the South African society. The Protected Disclosures Act 26 of 2000 (PDA) is one of various laws passed by Parliament in order to deal with measures to address crime....

Dealing with poor work

Before dismissing an employee for poor work performance or lack of skill, an assessment is essential. ...

Employees need a fair hearing before dismissal

South African labour law requires an employer to follow a fair pre-dismissal procedure, irrespective of how guilty an employee may be of an offence....

Labour Court awards not written in stone

It often happens that a party fails to attend a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) arbitration hearing through no fault of their own....

Foreigners, even if illegal, enjoy equal work protection

The Labour Court recently decided in a precedent-setting judgment that illegal foreigners who are employed by South African employers enjoy the same employment law rights as South African citizens....

Rules of discipline

One of the most fundamental aspects of a procedurally fair disciplinary inquiry is that an employer must advise an employee of the charges against him....

Union members entitled to representation by ‘outsiders’

Representation of trade union members by shop stewards in internal disciplinary proceedings is common in the SA workplace.  ...

Employees get a second chance

When an employee refers an unfair dismissal or unfair labour practice dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the commission is required to appoint a commissioner to firstly attempt to resolve the dispute through conciliation....

Absence from hearing isn’t admission of guilt

It may sound unlikely, but people often fail to attend a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) arbitration hearing through no fault of their own....

Contracts of employment

There are many practical questions that both employers and employees often ask in relation to contracts of employment and it is such questions that this article attempts to address....

Signed, sealed and binding

There are many practical questions that both employers and employees often ask in relation to contracts of employment....

Blow the whistle, but not your job prospects

Crime, regrettably, is very prevalent in the South African society. The Protected Disclosures Act 26 of 2000 is one of various laws passed by Parliament in order to deal with measures to address crime....

Onus in fairness of dismissal

In Consol Limited v Karen Lynn Kanjee and Others (JR 1118/05) the matter came before the Labour Court by way of an opposed application to review a decision of a commissioner of the chemical industry not to afford parties an opportunity to make oral submissions on a preliminary point of law....

No pay unless Eskom is to blame

The most fundamental duty of an employee is to tender services to an employer. The obvious corresponding duty of an employer is to remunerate the employee....

Fairness of dismissal rests with the CCMA

It is the employer's prerogative to hire and fire employees. However, section 185 of the Labour Relations Act of 1995 protects employees against being unfairly dismissed by their employers....

Shoddy presentation gives CCMA the upper hand

In October last year the Constitutional Court handed down an extremely important judgment that is likely to feature prominently in employment law for many years....

The dangers of crying wolf

The Labour Appeal Court and the Labour Courts have come out strongly against racism in the workplace. The reason is obvious – the constitution and other legislation outlaw historically institutionalised racism in South Africa....

When can employers intercept electronic communication?

Employees often abuse electronic facilities which are supposed to improve the efficiency of the business. ...