Tag: Werksmans Attorneys

Last month the Department of Labour (DOL) released a media brief noting that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has requested that the DOL investigate the growing practice of deliberate circumvention of labour laws amongst employers.

One of the respects in which the National Credit Act (the NCA) has created confusion relates to the obligation to register as a credit provider. Section 40(1) of the NCA provides that a person must apply to be registered as a credit provider if the total principal debt owed to that credit provider under all outstanding credit agreements exceeds the prescribed threshold - which has been nil since 11 May 2016, and prior to that was R500,000. 

For many years, asylum seekers attempting to claim benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) have routinely been turned away by the Department of Labour, despite having made contributions to the Fund during their employment.

Very often, an employee is suspended while an investigation is conducted into allegations of misconduct, or pending the holding and outcome of a disciplinary hearing. South African labour laws do not require such a suspension to be anything more than 'fair', and there is no minimum or maximum time period within which the investigation must be concluded, or in which the enquiry process finalised. However, since the suspension of an employee can be challenged as an unfair labour practice, the courts and CCMA often have to deal with challenges to an employee having been suspended.

It is important that a trade mark is used as non-use could lead to the cancellation of the mark, if it has not been used for 5 years, which is illustrated by the PRIMARK case which has resulted in the removal of the mark from the South African trade marks register.

The issue arose as to whether the dismissal of an employee who refused to work contractually agreed upon days due to the tenets of her religious convictions was automatically unfair?

The National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 provides for a national minimum wage. The national minimum wage is R20 for each ordinary hour worked. There are, however, certain exceptions to the national minimum wage amount of R20 per hour. Domestic workers are entitled to a minimum wage of R15 per hour.

The National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 (NMWA) came into effect on 1 January 2019. The NMWA provides for, amongst others, a national minimum wage; the establishment of a National Minimum Wage Commission; a review and annual adjustment of the national minimum wage; and the provision of an exemption from paying the national minimum wage.  

The amendments to the Competition Act, 1998, which introduce criminal liability for cartel conduct, came into effect on 1 May 2016.

Brand owners take note. The movement to legalise the possession and consumption of cannabis is real. With the growing global trend to recognise cannabis as legal it can only be a matter of time until various other cannabis products will be legalised too.