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 most important reason for employing people is the need for their skills. The question is whether the money expended in order to acquire and retain these employee…
Ensure that the rights of absent employees are adhered to before dismissing 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 law considers absenteeism over short periods (a day or two) without leave or without good…
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 Cross examination is used universally in courts and tribunals and gives an accused the opportunity to challenge his/her accusers. However, it is contentious as to whether an accused…
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. Dishonesty has traditionally been seen as a serious offence and one that could render an employment relationship intolerable. This is because dishonesty damages the ability of the employer…
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 Labour law, born from South Africa’s Constitution, is there primarily to protect employees. Central to this purpose is the principle that the jobs of employees must be protected….
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 African labour law strongly protects people employed in South Africa. Furthermore, our courts do not easily give up jurisdiction to foreign courts. When a foreign embassy is…
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 Labour law accepts the firing of guilty employees only if dismissal is the last resort. The Code of Good Practice: Dismissal provides that, where employers are considering dismissing…
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 I often receive calls from angry employers who, having been certain of success at arbitration, have received notice that they have lost the case. The reasons that this…
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…