Withholding Pay in Times of Industrial Action
There are a number of options that are available to employers during industrial action, one such option being the employer's right to withhold salaries and wages of those employees who are participating in a strike. Withholding pay, naturally, is the most effective method to dissuade employees from embarking on a strike, after dismissal, of course, [...]
Disciplining Shop Stewards
The position of a shop steward in the workplace is an ambiguous one: on the hand, they are, just like any other employee, subject to their employers’ disciplinary processes, and on the other hand, they function as intermediaries between employers and union members. Shop stewards assist union members in various aspects of the workplace, including [...]
How to deal with suspected fraudulent medical certificates
Most employers believe that if the employee produces a medical certificate as justification for a period of absence that the employer is bound to accept it and is bound to pay the employee for the period of absence. However, where the employer suspects foul play, the employer is entitled to contact the employee’s medical practitioner [...]
Protest Action in South Africa
The website Wikipedia, when searching the phrase Protest Action in South Africa, starts their synopsis with the following statement: South Africa has been dubbed "the protest capital of the world", with one of the highest rates of public protests in the world. This label is largely attributed to, firstly, widespread service delivery protests and urban land [...]
Be careful… Big brother is watching
The use of social media for marketing purposes, customer liaison or operational planning, has boomed throughout the last few years. It has become a handy tool due to its multiple uses, including storage of information and recording of video or audio for later reference. Just as employers have become inclined to utilise this versatile tool [...]
The Importance of Witness Testimony
During an arbitration process, an arbitrator is tasked with making a decision. In order for him/her to make such a decision, any and all relevant evidence needs to be assessed. Such evidence falls within 3 broad categories, namely, documentary evidence, witness testimony and miscellaneous items such as videotapes, photos and any other relevant items. All [...]
Essential Services
Section 213 of the Labour Relations Act defines an essential service as: a service the interruption of which endangers the life, personal safety, or health of the whole or any part of the population; the Parliamentary service; the South African Police Services The right to strike is a constitutional right afforded to all workers [...]
Amendment to the BCEA earnings threshold – and what this means for employers?
Many people are not aware of the “earnings thresholds” or how it impacts them as employers or employees. Briefly, an earnings threshold refers to the gross annual salary of any private person. It is a benchmark used to determine if an employee qualifies for some of the basic protections contained in labour legislation, such as [...]
An employee wants to retire, however, there is no agreement on retirement age
There is currently no specific law that provides at what age an employee must retire. The ordinary retirement age is usually between 60 to 65 years. An employee cannot be forced to retire unless their employment contract has a specified age which indicates when they must retire, or a rule contained in the workplace which [...]
What is a lockout?
Definition of ‘lockout’ Section 213 of the Labour Relations Act defines a ‘lockout’ as ‘the exclusion by an employer of employees from the employer’s workplace, for the purpose of compelling the employees to accept a demand in respect of any matter of mutual interest between employer and employee, whether or not the employer breaches those [...]