Latest Articles
The Assign Concourt TES Judgment tested at the CCMA
Just over a year ago the Concourt handed down judgment in the Assign Services (Pty) Ltd v Numsa and Others (case number CCT194/17) case. This judgment dealt with the question of who has an employment relationship with a labour broker employee, deployed at the client...
Dismissal for a positive cannabis test is fair says the CCMA
The Constitutional Court may have recently declared the private use of cannabis legal, but what is the impact of this on the workplace, and how does the private consumption of Cannabis, and alcohol for that matter, impact on employer rights? The CCMA has however held,...
The Assign Concourt TES Judgment tested at the CCMA
Just over a year ago the Concourt handed down judgment in the Assign Services (Pty) Ltd v Numsa and Others (case number CCT194/17) case. This judgment dealt with the question of who has an employment relationship with a labour broker employee, deployed at the client...
Nationality as a reason for dismissal is discriminatory
So, what do you do when a client you are delivering goods to, using foreign drivers, informs you that they will no longer permit foreign nationals on their premises, and you have no alternative employment for them? This was the scenario faced by the Labour Court in...
Fraudulent medical certificates warrant dismissal every day of the week
Make no mistake, a sizeable percentage of medical certificates, colloquially known as sick notes, presented to employers daily, are fraudulent. Many employers will relate to the scourge of Monday and Friday “sick leave-itis”, which is a major contributor to sick leave...
Retention agreements are hand-outs with handcuffs
The recent Labour Appeal court judgment delivered on 26 February 2019, in Solidarity OBO Scholtz v Gijima Holdings (Pty) Ltd [Case number JA131/2017] dealt with the subject of employee loyalty incentive scheme agreements, whereby an employee agrees to remain in the...
Suspending employees pending finalisation of investigations and hearings
Employees can be suspended from work in either of two ways. The two species of employee suspension are precautionary suspension and punitive suspension. Punitive suspension occurs when an employer offers an employee a period of suspension without pay, as an...
Lack of transport is no justification for late-coming and absenteeism
So, your car breaks down and you have no replacement; is your employer obligated to accommodate your absenteeism and late-coming that follows? No, they are not. This was he scenario in the Labour Court review application in National Nuclear Regulator v the CCMA &...
Labour Court gets tough on strikers flaunting picketing rules
Strikers, all too frequently, fail to comply with picketing rules, and elect, on the contrary, to behave in a violent and unlawful manner, causing mayhem. This was the backdrop to the recent Labour Court case in Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd v Solly Malema and the National...
Sexual harassment is broadly defined
The best place to start when considering workplace sexual harassment is the Labour Relation Act’s Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment Cases, which was published as far back as 1998. This Code addresses such critical aspects of sexual harassment...
Blatantly discriminatory racist remarks amount to serious misconduct
It should go without saying that racist remarks and language is abhorrent, and is treated as such in labour disputes, if proved. This was the subject matter in the Labour Court case of Juda Phonyogo Dagane v the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council &...
Concourt clarifies precautionary suspension procedures
The requirement that employers conduct pre-suspension hearings prior to confirming the precautionary suspension of an employee, has been debunked by the Constitutional Court judgement recently handed down on 19 February 2019, in Alan Long v South African Breweries...