by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 11, 2019 | CCMA, Contracts, Employees, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Labour Unions South Africa |
South African labour law is a minefield riddled with endless hidden dangers. That is, there are numerous labour acts, regulations, codes and determinations that are mainly focussed on protecting employees. Some of these provisions are so incomplete or vague that they...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 9, 2019 | CCMA, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
Many employers like using ‘dereliction of duty’ as a disciplinary charge when they want to inflict strong punishment on employees because: the phrase ‘dereliction of duty’ has a serious and damaging ring to it; and the penalty for a first offence of gross dereliction...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 9, 2019 | CCMA, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Unfair Dismissals
At a disciplinary hearing, the chairperson should reject evidence that is legally inadmissible. One type of evidence that may be ruled inadmissible is when it’s hearsay. This occurs, for example, where the person placing the evidence before the presiding officer is...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 9, 2019 | CCMA, Disciplinary Hearing, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Unfair Dismissals
The existing and pending new legislation necessitates that management obtain labour law expertise. In the case of NUFAWSA obo Matiti vs Svencraft cc (2007, 3 BALR 220) the employee, a shop steward was dismissed for dishonest use of sick leave. The arbitrator found...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 26, 2019 | Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Uncategorised, Unfair Dismissals
‘One day as I was upon a stair I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish that man would go away’ Anonymous Employers rely heavily on the presence at work of their employees in order to get the work done. It is therefore a major source of...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 6, 2019 | CCMA, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments, Unfair Dismissals
The provisions of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) make the implementation of retrenchment difficult and turns large scale retrenchments into a nightmare for employers. Section 189 of the LRA lays down a number of strict requirements, the breach of which would normally...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 6, 2019 | CCMA, Labour Brokers, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
Labour brokers and temp. agencies employ hundreds of thousands of people in South Africa and are referred to in the LRA as “temporary employment services” (TES). Many of these employers have not fully realised that the labour laws applying to other employers apply...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 6, 2019 | CCMA, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments, Unfair Dismissals
Many employers, when considering dismissal, do not mind taking into account the fact that the guilty employee has long service. However, having weighed this against the seriousness of the offence and aggravating factors, the employer should be allowed, within reason,...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jul 25, 2019 | CCMA, Employees, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
Making unsupported allegations of unfairness against employers can be costly. This is partly because the CCMA, Labour Court, Labour Appeal Court and bargaining councils deal with approximately 180 000 cases per year and do not have time to waste on dealing with false...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jul 25, 2019 | CCMA, Disciplinary Hearing, Discipline Costs, Labour Law
Some time ago I was asked by an employer to assist with preparing for a Labour Court review case. The employer had dismissed the employee for theft but the CCMA had forced the employer to reinstate him. I was puzzled by the CCMA’s decision because, on discussing the...
