Human Capital

Sexual harassment in the workplace may have serious implications for the employer extending beyond bad publicity, to the possibility of financial liability for the conduct of its employees. Employers beware that he who acts through another is deemed to act himself – even in cases of sexual harassment.

One of the legal terms and concepts that appear to confuse employers and employees is ‘victimisation’. This is partially because the labour statutes do not deal directly with the concept of ‘workplace victimisation’. This is most surprising in view of the fact that victimisation does interfere with the right to fair labour practice.

Are restraint of trade agreements transferred in terms of a section 197 transfer of business as a going concern? A restraint of trade agreement or undertaking is only transferred in terms of section 197 of the Labour Relations Act if it constitutes a term of a transferring contract of employment.

There have been a number of buzzwords trending in the Human Resources space over the years all with the explicit outcome of holding onto employees and ensuring that your organisation is a cool place to work. In my time I have seen the buzzwords (and related strategies) progress from 'Retention' to 'Attraction and Retention' to 'Engagement' to 'Employee Value Proposition' (EVP) and now 'Employee Experience' (EX). But isn’t EX just another way of saying EVP? And isn’t that the same as Employee Engagement?

Researchers exhorting the South African government to implement the NMW (National Minimum Wage) reported that they could find no studies showing high job losses from the institution of minimum wages. How did they not uncover the link between the 2007 decision to impose the US Fair Minimum Wage Act on the US dependencies of Puerto Rico, American Samosa and the Mariana Islands?

Digital transformation is a reality, and is having a major impact on organisations of every size, and across all industries. The benefits of innovation and agility are numerous, but many fear that this transformation is threatening jobs.

Your social media posts, as well your comments and likes on other people’s posts, can be liked or shared and can easily make their way to your employer. A racist comment made on social media is very serious and it is potentially accessible to hundreds, if not thousands, of other social media users. Even if the post is deleted, once it is shared or if some has taken a screen shot, it can continue circulating on social media or the internet.

With Easter and various other public holidays imminent in March and April, most South African employees are anticipating a few days’ off from their daily work routines. But, this period also raises the question about other 'religious holidays' and the stance of labour law on these.

Gamblers, terrorists, haters and other risk groups can threaten business information security, but should an employer be interested in the personal life of employees? 

To mark International Women’s Day (IWD) on Thursday 8 March 2018, PwC surveyed over 3,600 professional women (aged 28-40) to find out about their career development experiences and aspirations. The survey included respondents from employers across 27 industry sectors and from over 60 countries worldwide. These women are at the point in their working lives where the gap between men’s and women’s progression begins to widen significantly and the challenges of combining careers and personal priorities increase.