Labour federation Cosatu has reiterated its stance for immediate action to be taken against politicians involved in acts of corruption. They also called for the prosecution of unethical political leaders, who have looted money for personal protective equipment (PPE) and stolen food parcels meant for the poor.

This comes as the trade union prepares for a [more…]

As more economic activity resumes during level 1, employers are caught between a rock and a hard place as they navigate between union demands for higher wages — affecting thousands of workers — and resuscitating their businesses to claw back losses incurred due to Covid-19.

Analysts have warned that employers could be forced to retrench so [more…]

Employees already have to endure a lengthy and often protracted journey to reach the oasis of a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (hereinafter ‘CCMA’) award in their favour, only to have to begin the tiresome journey of receiving such award after succeeding with their claim. This plight was recognised in the Labour Courts [more…]

Issue

Whether an employer may unilaterally change an employee’s retirement age and, if it does, whether doing so would amount to an automatically unfair dismissal and result in unfair discrimination.

Summary

An employer cannot unilaterally change an employee’s retirement age. Should the employer do so and terminate the employee’s employment, the dismissal may constitute an automatically unfair dismissal [more…]

Mental health has been an issue that has been of concern for some time now, but since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, attention to this issue has increased. According to an online survey conducted in April by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) on COVID-19 and Mental Health, 59% [more…]

The Department of Employment and Labour has introduced the Employment Equity Amendment Bill to the National Assembly, promising a shake-up of the country’s employment equity laws, says Bradley Workman-Davies, director at law firm Werksmans Attorneys.

Workman-Davies said that the current Employment Equity Act already provides for affirmative action measures to be introduced for some employers.

However,  he [more…]

Introduction

Employers are all too aware that section 23(2) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 as amended (“the BCEA”) requires that in order for a medical certificate to be valid the following requirements are to be met, namely:-

• the medical certificate must be issued and signed by a medical [more…]
  

In Lemley v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others [2020] 7 BLLR 676 (LAC), Mr Lemley (the employee) was employed by T-Systems SA (Pty) Ltd (the employer) in Port Elizabeth. The employer commenced a retrenchment process in which the employee was identified as potentially affected.

As an alternative to retrenchment, the employee [more…]

COVID-19 has revolutionised the workplace in terms of health and safety standards. Never before have employers had to manage their workplaces as delicately as under the current situation, which has forced most of the world to work remotely where possible. South Africa is no different and although we may be three months out of our [more…]

A recent bill submitted to Parliament for consideration would seek to impose potentially stringent new quotas for numerical targets for the employment of persons from designated groups.

The current formulation of the Employment Equity Act already provides for Affirmative Action measures to be introduced by designated employers.  These affirmative action measures include measures to ensure the [more…]

Where the employer fails to attend an arbitration hearing the arbitrator is entitled to continue without the employer unless the arbitrator is aware of an acceptable reason for the employer’s absence. As the arbitrator has little or no way of testing the truth of the employee’s evidence, he/she will most often accept the [more…]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says Cabinet has established an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on the Employment of Foreign Nationals.

Fielding questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, the President said the IMC will deal with the migration of foreign nationals for employment.

“To ensure a coherent and sustainable solution to these challenges, Cabinet has recently established an IMC on [more…]

On 20 August 2020, the Minister of Employment and Labour in South Africa published the Draft Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (Draft Code), for public comment. This Draft Code has been guided by various conventions adopted by the International Labour Organisation, including [more…]

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and others will march to Union Buildings and other government offices on Thursday (3 September) as part of its ‘commitment’ to defend and protect its members and workers against Covid-19.

With the financial difficulties that most companies are currently experiencing and with the end of the year approaching, the question on everyone’s minds is “Do I have to give my staff an increase this year?”.

Salary increases are not regulated by Labour legislation, but whether an employee is entitled to an annual increase is determined by [more…]

Based on the Auditor-General alerting the department to irregularities.

The Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) benefit has been temporarily suspended, following the identification of control deficiencies within the Ters system.

According to Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi, these control ‘deficiencies’ include inconsistencies regarding past payments made to people who are deceased, imprisoned, or who [more…]

Since the start of the lockdown, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many business owners have been tasked with taking difficult decisions for survival. Financial strain is at the top of the list of difficulties faced by small and medium businesses, or even the big corporates. Some business owners are already contemplating retrenchments due to the [more…]

Employers in the metals and engineering sector got a reprieve from unions’ demands for higher wages after entering into an agreement to freeze wages until 2021 due to Covid-19.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the largest union in the sector, said the wage-freeze agreement was  brought on by the lockdown that came into [more…]