Tag: retrenchment

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the global economy to its knees, and inevitably many employers will need to contain costs by cutting salaries. Being hit with a salary cut or a retrenchment is something every employee dreads, but it’s important not to panic and to manage the situation as responsibly as possible.

Countless businesses have come to a grinding halt during lockdown and the fear that this will affect their employees on a personal level is very real. Many are struggling to pay their staff and are having to decide whether to implement salary cuts or begin retrenchment processes.

Nationally, on 1 May 2020, South Africa will move from its current position at level 5 to level 4. This means that all essential services will be able to continue operating together with the following additional sectors: food retail stores will be permitted to sell full line of products, agriculture, forestry, mining, financial and professional services, postal and telecommunications services, information technology services and formal waste recycling services.

Travel bans, lockdown, working from home and avoiding public spaces have suddenly become the new normal, and you may be feeling unsettled and anxious as the coronavirus crisis wreaks havoc on our everyday activities and routines.

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA) regulates sick leave entitlement. In terms of section 22 of the BCEA, the 'sick leave cycle' means the period of 36 months’ employment with the same employer immediately following an employee’s commencement of employment. 

It often happens that an employer needs to terminate fixed-term contracts prior to its natural expiry date because there is unexpectedly no more work for the temporary employees. This can be tricky.

Employers must ensure they follow the right labour relations steps amidst a tough environment. Having recently slipped into a technical recession, the South African economy continues to experience dangerously low levels of economic growth, which does not bode well for national employment figures. Making matters worse is the technologically driven fourth industrial revolution which continues to threaten redundancy on a variety of jobs.

If the data is to be believed, retrenchments are once again on the rise. Lets not speculate why, but the current environment doesn’t induce business stability.

Picture this: one of your valued employees resigns at a time when it will be difficult and expensive to replace her. You offer her...

The [fake] case of state protection failing employment justice? Given how I have spent the last twenty or so years of my career, I tend at second blush when evaluating individuals in their careers to view them through an employment relations lens (and with those higher profile employees a bit of governance oversight thrown in).