Law firm Webber Wentzel said that the Occupational Health and Safety Act places an express obligation on the employer to maintain a working environment that is safe and healthy. “On the issue of a healthy working environment, the employer must ensure that the workplace is free from any risk to the health of its employees…
Can an Employee Resign to Avoid Disciplinary Action?
Employers often ask about the legal rules that apply in the situation where an employee chooses to resign rather than to face a disciplinary hearing. The starting point is that Employers are legally permitted to discipline their employees when they commit misconduct. If found guilty thereof, the employee’s employment record will be tarnished, and it…
‘Substantively unfairly dismissed’ employees may not always be reinstated
Sections 193(1) and (2) of the Labour Relations Act list a hierarchy of remedies available to employees who are found to have been substantively unfairly dismissed in arbitration hearings. On the one hand retrospective reinstatement is a remedy limited to cases of substantively unfair dismissal. On the other hand, identifies procedural unfairness qualifies for financial…
UIF Gears Up for Parental Leave and Benefits
On 1 November 2019, s8,11,15 and 16 of the Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018(Act) comes into effect The amendments see the much awaited implementation of parental benefits in terms of the Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001 (UIA),. The Act provides that parental benefits, adoption benefits and commissioning parental benefits must be paid…
Is an employer restricted to the categorisation of the charges during the disciplinary proceedings.
Procedural fairness in disciplinary proceedings requires an employee to be made aware and understand the charges against him. This is not only to assist the employee in deciding how to plead but also to ensure that the employee understands the case he has to answer. Is an employer restricted to the manner in which the…
What Constitutes a Temporary Employment Service?
In CHEP South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Shardlow NO and Others 5 BLLR 450 (LC), 201 workers were employed by Contracta-Force Corporate Solutions (Pty) Ltd (C-Force) to repair wooden pallets on behalf of CHEP South Africa (Pty) Ltd (CHEP). The workers, claiming that C-Force was a temporary employment service (TES) (otherwise commonly known as…
No Freedom to falsely criticise your employer in the media!
In the matter of Joseph Nzimande and two others v Didben NO and Others, the applicants were dismissed for making false statements to the media, bringing the name of their employer into disrepute and failing to obey an instruction to them to raise their grievances through the recognised internal channels.