by Ivan Israelstam | Oct 24, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Corporate, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
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 offense of gross dereliction of...
by Ivan Israelstam | Oct 17, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Corporate, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Brokers, Labour Court, Labour Law, 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 | Oct 10, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Corporate, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, GROSS MISCONDUCT, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
Labour legislation in South Africa is heavily weighted in favour of employees. The heavy protection of employees against being dismissed makes it very difficult for employers to run efficient workplaces. This in turn compromises the ability of businesses to grow and...
by Ivan Israelstam | Oct 3, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Contracts, Corporate, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
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 approximately180 000 cases per year and do not have time to waste on dealing with false...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 26, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Contracts, Corporate, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
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...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 19, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Contracts, Corporate, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
South African labour law requires all discipline to be corrective rather than punitive. When an employer disciplines an employee twice for the very same incident of misconduct the CCMA is likely to see this as punitive. It is only under highly exceptional...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 12, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Contracts, Corporate, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
South African employers often lose at CCMA and bargaining councils in cases relating to fixed-term contracts. A key reason for this is that employers do not understand the legal purpose of fixed-term contracts and the circumstances under which they are safe to...
by Ivan Israelstam | Sep 6, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, CONFLICT OF INTERESTS, Corporate, COVID-19, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
Employees who lodge grievances OR CCMA disputes are too often victimized for exercising their rights. Such victimization often takes the form of dismissals for incompatibility. A case in point is the one of Jabari vs Telkom SA (Pty) Ltd (2006, 10 BLLR 924). Here, the...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 23, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Corporate, COVID-19, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
In order to optimise the corrective effect of discipline it needs to be implemented as swiftly as possible. This does not mean that the disciplinary process must be carried out hastily. It does mean that, psychologically and legally, unnecessary delays must be...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 19, 2022 | ARBITRATION, CCMA, Corporate, COVID-19, CROSS-EXAMINATION, Disciplinary Codes, Disciplinary Hearing, Dismissal, Employees, EMPLOYERS, HR POLICIES, Labour Court, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
Dismissing employees who have been arrested can be dangerous. It seems obvious to employers that, if an employee is arrested by the police he has ‘dismissed himself’. However, this mistaken belief is born from wishful thinking. Reasons for such wishful thinking may...
