Tag: unfair dismissal

A recent judgement Woolworths v CCMA and others [2021] ZALAC 49 in the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) held that an employee can be fairly dismissed for dishonesty if the employee claims to be ill and then uses sick leave entitlement to attend a sports match.

A recent judgement by the Labour Court addresses the role that incapacity can play when an employee is charged with misconduct, and whether an employer is required to exclude the possibility of incapacity in these circumstances.

Despite South Africa’s employment equity legislation, the biases and discrimination that characterised the ‘old South Africa’ still exists in the hearts and minds of many people. Such unfair discrimination could include, but is not limited to, discrimination on arbitrary or subjective grounds such as race, gender, family responsibility, religion, age, disability, opinion, and trade union affiliation.

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.

The cost to the employer can include hearings at CCMA, Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court as well as back pay.

Many employers have placed their hopes of a return to the pre-COVID-19 workplace on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. South Africa is in the process of acquiring and rolling out vaccines, however, it seems that although people are encouraged to be immunised, no one will, at this stage, be legally required to take the vaccine.

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.

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.

​​​​​​In a recent judgment, Gold One Limited v Madalani and Others (JR 1109/15) [2020] ZALCJHB 180 (9 September 2020), the Labour Court confirmed that intolerability is a high threshold in constructive dismissal matters. Intolerability is more than a working environment or working under employment conditions that are difficult, unpleasant or stressful.