Tag: EmployerRights
Firing illegal strikers can be unlawful
Chapter 4 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), read together with item 6 of Schedule 8 of the LRA, effectively allows employers to dismiss employees who have embarked on an unprotected strike. However, the law makes it clear that an unlawful strike does not automatically give the employer a right to fire the strikers.
The fired and the furious – and still restrained
The Labour Appeal Court decision in Backsports (Pty) Ltd vs Motlhanke and another offers a useful reminder. Dismissal does not mark the end of an employer’s rights. This remains true where a restraint of trade was carefully agreed and clearly breached. For employers, the judgment reinforces several important lessons about enforcement, evidence and the limits of sympathy-based reasoning. In other words, it offers clarity in disputes that often resemble the fired and the furious, where emotions run high after termination.
