A laboratory analyst fired for putting her family’s safety first and refusing to work during the Covid-19 level five lockdown has been reinstated.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) noted that she had been afraid of infecting her elderly mother and her asthmatic son.

The company, Parmalat, designated as an essential service, was more concerned [more…]

While the Covid-19 pandemic is an unfortunate and unprecedented global disaster, it has also brought business opportunities as we have already witnessed with the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), says Kganki Matabane, chief executive of the Black Business Council.

In a post published on the ANC’s Progressive Business Forum website, Matabane said that [more…]

Working time including overtime is regulated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act in Chapter two. Chapter two of the Act is however not applicable to the following employees:

1. senior managerial employees;
2. employees engaged as sales staff who travel to the premises of customers and who regulate their own hours of work;
3. employees who [more…]
   

As we embrace a new way of working, considering the perspectives and circumstances of your entire workforce – including people who might otherwise have been excluded or marginalised – has fast become one of the most crucial aspects of a company’s survival in these trying times.

Diversity and inclusion should naturally form part of a business’s [more…]

Introduction

1. Clients have raised queries on whether they can order or require their employees to be vaccinated for Covid-19.
2. Various articles have been published and statements made on the issue of compulsory vaccinations for Covid-19.  In our view too much emphasis has been placed on compulsory vaccinations for Covid-19 at the workplace.  It is not [more…]
   

Lighting up before work – they can’t fire you – or can they? 

The recent CCMA decision in the matter between Rankeng v Signature Cosmetics and Fragrance (Pty) Ltd made headlines as the CCMA ruled that the company’s decision to dismiss an employee (Rankeng) for smoking cannabis in the early hours of the morning, before he attended [more…]

Have you ever received an LRA Form 7.11 and felt unsure of what your next step should be? In this article the procedure will be explained to you and you will never have to wonder about it again.

1. Where does the LRA 7.11 Dispute Referral form come from?

When a dispute between an Employer and Employee arises, either [more…]

Cape Town – The Corruption Watch report on Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) corruption at work revealed that the Western Cape has the second-highest cases of alleged corruption.

According to the 126 reported cases of alleged Ters corruption identified in the report, Gauteng recorded 57 cases, followed by Western Cape 15 and KwaZulu-Natal 12. With [more…]

JOHANNESBURG – THE MINERALS Council South Africa has projected that the mining industry would likely spend R300 million to vaccinate three million people against the Covid-19 virus as the first doses of the vaccines arrived in the country.

Council president Mxolisi Mgojo told journalists yesterday ahead of the Mining Indaba that the industry would use its [more…]

Somehow, there are many organisations that still don’t know what a Workplace Skills Plan is.

The deadline for submitting your organisation’s Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) is looming, but so many companies still don’t have a clue what that even is. Any company that has a total annual staff payroll of more than R500 000 is [more…]

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has launched its E-Compliance Certificate online system.

This will enable employers, small businesses and entrepreneurs to apply for a UIF compliance certificate (tender letter) online, the fund said.

From Monday (1 February), clients can visit uifcompliance.labour.gov.za  or www.labour.gov.za and click on “UIF e-Compliance Certificate” under the “Online Systems” tab [more…]

It is important to note that there is a difference between being fully recovered and being ready to come out of isolation.

The following criteria are specified for de-isolation of a person who tests positive for Covid-19:

• Symptomatic patients with mild disease (not requiring hospitalisation for Covid-19) can be de-isolated 10 days after the onset of [more…]
  

As we move into 2021, in the midst of another lockdown and with the spread and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic worse than ever, employers and employees find themselves caught in the balance of what is reasonable in unprecedented circumstances.

The recent CCMA case of Botha v TVR Distribution [2020] 12 BALR 1282 (CCMA) has shown that COVID-19, [more…]

Introduction:

Item 8 of the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal – which is incorporated into the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, deals with all issues relating to the probation period of the Employee. According to the aforementioned Code of Good Practice, an Employer may require a newly hired Employee to serve a period [more…]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says that the government will look at how black-owned businesses can participate in the recovery of the country’s economy in 2021.

Speaking at the ANC’s Progressive Business Forum on Tuesday (19 January), the president said this will include a focus on the key economic sectors which drive the economy and the role that [more…]

In the wake of the devastation caused by Covid-19, fast food outlets, restaurants and caterers across the country are being dealt yet another blow.

The Minister of Employment and Labour has extended the terms of the Main Agreement of a newly formed Bargaining Council for the Fast Food, Restaurant, Catering and Allied Trades (‘BCFFRCAT’) to establishments [more…]

Employers have the right under the Labour Relations Act (LRA) to discipline and even to dismiss employees for work-related misconduct. However, dismissal is very seldom a simple process.

For a dismissal to be upheld, the employer has to properly follow a stringent, complex and time-consuming disciplinary procedure laid down by labour law  The employer also needs [more…]

There are six pieces of legislation that require employers to treat pregnant and post-pregnant employees with the greatest of care. One of these pieces of legislation is the Code Of Good Practice On The Protection Of Employees During Pregnancy And After The Birth Of A Child which obliges employers to:

• Encourage employees to inform the employer of [more…]