Tag: Labour Relations Act (LRA)

On 26 July this year, the Constitutional Court clarified that organisations are deemed to be the employer of workers they accessed through labour brokers after those employees have been employed at their workplace for more than three months.

Many people throughout Africa, look at South Africa is a place which offers socio-economic opportunities; and as a result, it has become home to many inter-regional and inter-continental migrants seeking gainful employment.

For most labour brokers and their clients, the new judgement by the Constitutional Court – which determines that TES employees are deemed permanent employees of the client after a three-month period – it means business as usual.

Employees, earning below the prescribed earnings threshold of R205,433.30 per annum, who are placed with a client by a temporary employment service (TES) for a period exceeding three months are solely employed by the client, and the TES is no longer the employer of that employee.

While unemployment and poverty remain some of South Africa’s biggest threats, our centralised collective bargaining model, which culminates in bargaining councils extending agreements to non-parties, remains the biggest deterrent to employment in affected industries.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) Bill has been passed by the National Assembly and sent for concurrence to the National Council of Provinces. The implementation date of the NMW Bill will be announced after the National Council of Provinces (NCOP's) select committee considers the NMW Bill. The NMW legislation is intended to provide for a national minimum wage; to establish a National Minimum Wage Commission; to review and annually adjust the national minimum wage and provide for exemption from paying the national minimum wage.

Common law obliges employees to be loyal to their employers, to carry out their work properly, to protect the employer’s reputation and to avoid conduct that could clash with the employer’s interests. However, there are limits to the employee’s duty of loyalty.

South African labour laws are constantly evolving as the government seeks to balance stronger protections for employees with the need to create a business-friendly investment climate.

The recent raids on businesses employing illegal foreign nationals in Cape Town underscores the Department of Labour’s mission to ensure that employers comply with labour legislation as it relates to the employment of foreign nationals.

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.