In Workplace Law 12th Ed. John Grogan writes that one of the general requirements for a fair dismissal is consistency. For many years now, the labour courts have stressed the principle of equality of treatment of employees, the “parity principle”. What this essentially means, is that it would be unfair for an employer to [...]
The Protected Disclosures Act 26 of 2000 (“the PDA”) came into effect with its main purpose to create a culture which will facilitate the disclosure of information by employees relating to criminal and other irregular conduct in the workplace in a responsible manner by providing guidelines for the disclosure of such information and protection against [...]
People may no longer be prosecuted for cultivating, possessing and using small amounts of Cannabis for private purposes. But what are the consequences for the workplace? With reference to the latest Constitutional Court development where it was ruled that the private cultivation, possession and consumption of cannabis is legal, in the matter of Minister of [...]
Employers are often faced with difficult situations when it comes to an employee being caught committing various acts of misconduct at the workplace. Certain acts of misconduct that are against the disciplinary code at a workplace are also in-fact against the laws of South Africa. Committing such an act of misconduct is not only an [...]
The disciplinary charge of incitement may seem simple at face value, but if you put this misconduct under the microscope, there is far more to it. What is incitement? In Albion Services CC v CCMA (D 275/10) [2013] ZALCD 12 the Labour Court held that the definition includes that an employee purposefully acted in [...]
The Labour Court, in the case of Marais and Others v Shiva Uranium (Pty) Ltd (In Business Rescue) and Others (J3049/18) [2018] ZALCJHB 346; (2019) 40 ILJ 177 (LC); [2019] 5 BLLR 472 (LC) (5 October 2018), recently ruled on whether employees are entitled to approach the Labour Court to enforce a claim against their [...]
When parties enter into a full and final settlement agreement in order to terminate the employment relationship, most employers are of the opinion that the matter has been settled and that the employee has waived his/her right to refer the matter to the CCMA. However, in the recent Labour Court award of Cook4Life CC [...]
Contempt of the CCMA normally relates to conduct either during or after proceedings, for instance, where a party refuses to comply with an award which requires an act to be performed. Section 142(8) regulates what constitutes contempt during CCMA proceedings and includes, inter alia: Failure of a witness who has been issued a subpoena [...]
All employees have a right to privacy, but does it end there? In the recent Labour Court decision of NUMSA and Another v Rafe N. O. and Others (JR1022/12) [2016] ZALCHJB 512, the question of whether an employer had the right to examine an employee’s cellphone, was permissible, secondly the employees’ refusal to have his [...]
Section 23(2)(c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 108 of 1996 (the Constitution) gives all workers in South Africa a right to go on strike, this right is further entrenched in section 64 of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 (the LRA) as amended. The question that arises now is, is [...]