Tag: Michiel Heyns

Section 41(4) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA) relieves an employer of the duty to pay severance pay in circumstances where the employee who is dismissed for operational requirements “unreasonably refuses to accept the employer’s offer of alternative employment with that employer or any other employer”.

Employers are reminded to avoid providing offers of employment if the relevant recruitment processes or details of a vacant post have not been finalised as a valid employment agreement may still be created and enforced through offer and acceptance.

Once an employee has resigned the employee cannot withdraw the resignation unless the employer consents thereto. This consent must be given prior to the expiry of the employee’s notice period when the resignation becomes effective, failing which a fresh agreement of employment will have to be concluded.

With the easing of the nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the Government's 'Risk Adjusted Strategy' (comprising of five lockdown levels), more and more business can lawfully operate again. As a result, employees will be returning to work and employers will be obliged to remunerate them again.