BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. The number of retrenchments occurring in South Africa is alarmingly high. The law requires that: The employer follows a fair procedure aimed at an attempt to find alternatives…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za An employee is entitled, in terms of Section 77(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, to ask either the civil courts or to the Labour Court to determine any…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Web Address: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. The CCMA is constantly overloaded with cases hearing in excess of 150 000 cases a year. This can result in backlogs and delays in resolution of disputes. As…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. It is contentious as to whether second generation outsourcing falls under section 197 of the Labour Relations Act, which is the law protecting employees when a business or…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za South Africa’s labour legislation has, since 1996, been gradually but relentlessly removing labour flexibility from our economy. This is alarming because, especially in the modern world of business…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za Government intervention in post Corona recovery has to focus heavily on freeing employers of legal restrictions that constrain flexibility and productivity. Currently employers are hampered from surviving, prospering,…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. Employers have normally disallowed external legal representatives to represent accused employees at disciplinary hearings. This is mainly due to the provisions of Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. When an employer contemplates disciplining an employee it is required by The Code of Good Practice: Dismissal (the Code) found in Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. Even serious assault might not merit dismissal if the employer is unable to show that the misconduct rendered the employment relationship intolerable. The Code of Good Practice: Dismissal…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. Since 1995 the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and Basic Conditions of Employment Act have been replaced with entirely new versions. However, as large as this body of legislation…
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Web Address: www.labourlawadvice.co.za. Once the Corona virus has passed, South Africa’s badly weakened economy will offer even fewer jobs than it did in the pre-Corona era. The resulting heavy competition for…
It is understandable that business owners feel panicky because of the toll Corona is taking on business income. However, many businesses realise that if they implement wholesale retrenchments they will not only lose valuable skills but will also reduce the buying power of the public. This would then further reduce the business’s ability to earn…
Use your anti-Corona KIT Since the cancer of apartheid South Africa’s workplaces have not been affected by a malady anywhere nearly as bad as Corona. Corona severely threatens not only our physical health but also the economic health of workers, employers and the economy as a whole. We have the choice of panicking and washing…
Employers fairly frequently demote employees. This could be for any of many legitimate and illegitimate reasons including: The boss dislikes the employee The employee has broken a rule The employee’s work performance is unsatisfactory The boss wants to create a vacancy for somebody else Things have gone wrong and the boss needs a scapegoat The…
Employers frequently misuse probation agreements to get rid of employees instantly because: the employee has committed misconduct the employer wants to make space for a friend or cousin of the owner the employee ‘does not fit in’ a manager ‘does not like the employee’s face’ As probation is not a licence to fire, ‘James Bond’…
While all retrenchments are painful and often devastating for employees it is normal for employers to retrench employees after serious losses have been incurred because the employer cannot afford to pay their salaries. It can also happen that those executives responsible for managing the company are disciplined for allowing the financial losses to occur. However,…
The most common criterion used when deciding who to retrench is last-in-first-out. Employers are allowed by law to use the retention of necessary skills as a criterion. However, proving that the application of this criterion was fair is very complex. This has caused many an employer to lose in court. For example, in the case…
Absenteeism is a most problematic form of misconduct because it reduces productivity. Most employers, therefore, require employees who are absent from work due to alleged illness or injury to provide proof, in the form of a medical certificate, that they were genuinely ill and not abusing sick leave for purposes unrelated to illness. It is…
It is a common erroneous belief amongst employers that they protect themselves by employing staff without a letter or contract. In fact, the converse is true. The law does not make signed employment contracts compulsory but the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) does require employers to inform employees in writing of their particulars of…
Even when an employer finds an employee guilty of a serious offence this does not automatically entitle the employer to fire the employee. There are numerous possible remedies for misconduct which could include: Dismissal – the most severe corrective action Demotion – provided that the employee is given the choice of dismissal or demotion Suspension…
Employers too often try to remove their older employees from employment in order to ‘make way for new blood’ or because such employees sometimes move more slowly or ‘do not fit in’. However, such employees are protected by the Employment Equity Act (EEA) which prohibits unfair discrimination against an employee on the grounds of age….
All grievances should be treated with great care in order to establish their validity and to ensure that they are given appropriate attention. Some employers are too soft and trusting when receiving grievances and give in even before establishing whether the grievance has merit. However, more often employers go to the opposite extreme and brush…
Where employees disrupt the workplace the operations of the business can be seriously affected. Employees who behave in a disruptive manner might do so for a variety of reasons including: Abuse of alcohol or other substances Incompetence – that is, while the employee is not intentionally disruptive, his/her inability to perform properly disrupts the flow…
The Labour Relations Act (LRA) provides that dismissal must be the last resort where the employer needs to remedy an employment-related issue. This principle applies whether the problem relates to poor work performance, misconduct, job redundancy or incapacity due to illness or injury. Historically, judges and arbitrators usually gave careful consideration to the prevailing circumstances…
While it is clear that the abovementioned Code Of Good Practice provides that the disciplinary hearing need not be formal section 188(1)(b) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) requires that the employer has the onus of proving that a dismissal was procedurally fair. The key question is ‘How can the employer go about proving that…