Unfair Demotion Will Be Punished By Ccma
Employers demote employees fairly frequently. This could be for any number of legitimate, and illegitimate, reasons including: The boss dislikes the employee The employee has broken a rule The...
View ArticleSecond Generation Outsourcing: Can You Retrench?
It is contentious as to whether second generation outsourcing falls under section 197 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which is the law protecting employees when a business or a part thereof is taken...
View ArticleDismiss Poor Performers With Care, Or Expect To Get ‘court’ Out
Africa Business Radio Podcast Have you dismissed an employee for poor performance, only to have to defend your action at the CCMA? Many employers lose such cases at the CCMA, even when they have...
View ArticleA Final Warning To Employers: Don’t Misuse Disciplinary Warnings
Employers too often misuse disciplinary warnings or avoid using them at all because they are unsure of how the law works around them. In labour law, the main purpose of giving warnings is to remind...
View ArticleForeign Employers Can’t Escape South African Labour Law
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 situated in South...
View ArticleCross Examination At Disciplinary Hearings
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 employee at a...
View ArticleJailed Employees Still Have Rights
It seems obvious to employers that, if an employee is arrested by the police he has ‘dismissed himself’. However, this mistaken belief is born from wishful thinking. Reasons for such wishful thinking...
View ArticleConflict Of Interests
It is inherent in the nature of employment relationships that, as the employer is paying the employee for his services, he/she is obliged to be loyal to the employer and to devote his/her efforts to...
View ArticleStaff Unhappiness Is Not Incompatibility
The lodging of complaints by staff cannot be used as grounds for alleging incompatibility or dismissing employees. In the case of Jabari vs Telkom SA (Pty) Ltd (2006, 10 BLLR 924) the Labour Court, in...
View ArticleBe Prepared For Disciplinary Hearings
Some time ago I was asked by an employer to assist with preparing for a Labour Court review case. The employer had dismissed the employee for theft but the CCMA had forced the employer to reinstate...
View ArticleEmployees Beware – Don’t Falsely Accuse Employers
Making unsupported allegations of unfairness against employers can be costly. This is partly because the CCMA, Labour Court, Labour Appeal Court and bargaining councils deal with approximately 180 000...
View ArticleAbsence Does Not Make The Heart Grow Fonder
‘One day as I was upon a stair I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish that man would go away’ Anonymous Employers rely heavily on the presence at work of their employees in...
View ArticleHearsay Evidence Can Render Dismissals Unfair
At a disciplinary hearing, the chairperson should reject evidence that is legally inadmissible. One type of evidence that may be ruled inadmissible is when it’s hearsay. This occurs, for example, where...
View ArticleEvery Employer Needs Labour Law Expertise
South African labour law is a minefield riddled with endless hidden dangers. That is, there are numerous labour acts, regulations, codes and determinations that are mainly focussed on protecting...
View ArticlePoor Conduct Can Mean Poor Management
Occasionally employees misbehave or misperform because they do not want to work and prefer to get fired. However, in my experience, this is more the exception than the rule. More often, consistent poor...
View ArticleDon’t Suspend Employees In Anger
Angry employers too often fire employees on the spot for having broken workplace rules, or for doing poor work. This is understandable in circumstances where the employee has seriously messed up a...
View ArticleAutomatic Termination Clauses Are Dangerous
It has become a practice by employers to insert automatic termination clauses into employment contracts for reasons including the following: The employer and employee might agree that should the...
View ArticleBeware Disciplining Employees For Off-site Misconduct
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...
View ArticleWhat Powers Do The Labour Courts Have?
The Labour Relations Act (LRA) gives the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court strong decision-making powers. Section 158 of the LRA gives the Labour Court the power to make, amongst others, orders:...
View ArticleContractors Must Take Over Staff In Outsourcing Deal
The takeover of an entity or part thereof by a new owner or new management often causes loss of jobs and employees are often desperate to stay on with the new enterprise. On the other hand, the new...
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