Tag: Labour Relations Act (LRA)

A while ago, I received a panic phone call from an employer who had received an unfavourable arbitration award in respect of a CCMA case they never knew existed. That is, the employer had never received a summons to appear at the CCMA but the award required the employer to pay tens of thousands of rand to an ex-employee.

With unemployment figures at an all-time high and South Africa facing numerous economic challenges, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Department of Labour (DoL) are again taking steps to curb the employment of illegal foreign nationals living in South Africa.

Section 198A of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), also known as “deeming provision”, has been a contentious issue since it came into effect in 2015, and even more so since the Constitutional Court judgement around the Act in 2018. There are so many different interpretations of the law that it can be difficult to understand how to apply it to specific situations. Using a Temporary Employment Services (TES) Provider can further complicate matters, which makes it critical to have the right TES partner on board.

In a recent judgment, Joseph v Killarney Engineering (Pty) Ltd and others (JR 586 18), the Labour Court found that it did not have jurisdiction to determine review proceedings for a liquidated company if the person who instituted the legal proceedings failed to deliver the necessary notice to the liquidators.

Working from home has become a normal part of business life, a part that is unlikely to come to a crashing halt any time soon. Within this new normal are casual clothes, comfortable working conditions, as well as less time spent in cars and chatting around the water cooler.

The Labour Relations Act (LRA) allows employees to lodge unfair promotion disputes.

Uber drivers are currently classified as independent contractors in South Africa, but there are plans to launch a class action to compel Uber SA to confer several key rights on its drivers, which, if successful, will affect the rights of platform workers.

Labour relations and the fairness standards for dismissal of an employee in South Africa have long been centred around the formality of disciplinary or incapacity enquiry processes, and the tradition of the usage of these processes has built up an expectation that they are mandatory.  

In Legal Aid SA v Jansen (LAC), the employer appealed against the Labour Court’s decision whereby it held that the dismissal of the employee was automatically unfair in terms of section 187(1)(f) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and that he had been unfairly discriminated against in terms of section 6 of the Employment Equity Act, on the basis of him suffering from depression.

An employer cannot unilaterally change an employee’s retirement age. Should the employer do so and terminate the employee’s employment, the dismissal may constitute an automatically unfair dismissal and amount to unfair discrimination.