by Ivan Israelstam | Feb 28, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, EMPLOYERS, Employment Contracts, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Promotion
A default award is one that is made by a CCMA arbitrator despite the fact that one of the parties to the dispute failed to attend the arbitration hearing. Arbitrators have the power to make default awards under certain conditions, and overturning such awards is very...
by Ivan Israelstam | Feb 21, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Promotion
It is often easier and less expensive to promote an employee into a vacant senior post than to go through the costly and time-consuming process of hiring a new incumbent from outside the organisation. Where the employer has made sure that the junior employee being...
by Ivan Israelstam | Feb 16, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments, TRANSFER OF BUSINESS SERVICES
Over the past decade, millions of employees have been retrenched. One would have thought that, by now, companies would be so lean that further retrenchments would not be feasible. Despite this, large numbers of retrenchments are still occurring; and employers need to...
by Ivan Israelstam | Feb 7, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, TRANSFER OF BUSINESS SERVICES
The law does not allow new employers that take over a business in terms of section 197 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), to retrench or otherwise dismiss any employees for reasons related to such takeover. The LRA requires the new employer, in a takeover as a going...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jan 31, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, COVID-19, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Vaccination
Normally, a refusal to obey a reasonable instruction merits discipline, which in some cases could merit dismissal. However, refusal to be vaccinated should not be treated as misconduct. Our constitution and its resulting labour legislation protect employees from...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jan 24, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, COVID-19, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
Since 1995 the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and Basic Conditions of Employment Act have been replaced with entirely new versions. In addition, legislation in the form of the Skills Development Act and the Employment Equity Act has been introduced. Since then, labour...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jan 17, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Sexual Harassment
Employers may be hit by both the Employment Equity Act (EEA) as well as by the Labour Relations Act (LRA) when employees commit sexual harassment. Section 60 of the EEA in effect, provides that if the employer fails to take the steps necessary to deal with unfair...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jan 10, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
The Labour Relations Act defines the meaning of “employee” as: “(a) any person, excluding an independent contractor, who works for another person or for the state and who receives, or is entitled to receive, any remuneration; and (b) any other person who in any manner...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jan 3, 2022 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
Employees in South Africa are very well protected by our labour laws. That is, numerous and imposing obstacles in the law and in the legal system make it extremely difficult for employers to dismiss those employees who deserve to be dismissed. These obstacles include:...
by Ivan Israelstam | Dec 27, 2021 | CCMA, Corporate, Dismissal, Employment Contracts, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
South African labour law requires that, when the employer is contemplating the dismissal of an employee, it should be able to show that the employee’s offence was so serious that it made “a continued employment relationship intolerable”. Such serious offences could...
