by Ivan Israelstam | Oct 23, 2018 | Employees, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act
It is a common and erroneous belief amongst employers that they protect themselves by employing staff without a letter or contract. In fact, the converse is true. The law does not make signed employment contracts compulsory but, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act...
by Ivan Israelstam | Oct 23, 2018 | Employees, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Retrenchments
While all retrenchments are painful and often devastating for employees, it is normal for employers to retrench employees after serious losses have been incurred as the employer can no longer afford to pay their salaries. It can also happen that those executives...
by Ivan Israelstam | Oct 23, 2018 | Employees, Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers
Section 6(1) of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) prohibits employers from unfairly discriminating, directly or indirectly, against an employee on numerous grounds, including gender and sex. In my view, gender discrimination occurs, for example, where the employer...
by Ivan Israelstam | Aug 30, 2018 | Labour Law, Labour Law for Employers, Labour Relations Act, Retrenchments
The CCMA and Labour Court are wise to employers who misuse retrenchments in order to get rid of employees who they do not want. Due to this and the dire consequences of such misuse, employers should consider the retrenchment route only when there is a genuine...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jul 23, 2018 | Employees, Labour Law, Labour Relations Act
Where employees disrupt the workplace the operations of the business can be seriously affected. Employees who behave in a disruptive manner might do so for a variety of reasons including: Abuse of alcohol or other substance Incompetence – that is, while the employee...
by Ivan Israelstam | Jul 18, 2018 | Labour Law, Labour Law Debate with Ivan Israelstam, Labour Relations Act
The Labour Relations Act (LRA) provides that dismissal must be the last resort where the employer needs to remedy an employment-related issue. This principle applies whether the problem relates to poor work performance, misconduct, job redundancy or incapacity due to...