Workplace

Getting The Boot For Your Loot: Can An Employee Be Dismissed For Taking Part In Violence Or Looting?

An employee’s conduct outside of their workplace and ordinary work hours is not subject to the control or authority of their employer. Ordinarily, facing disciplinary proceedings for one’s after-hours actions would not be considered “substantively fair”. Even arrest or criminal activity by an employee does not give an employer the automatic right of dismissal. The purpose of this Act is, among other things, “to create offences which have a bearing on cybercrime; to criminalise the disclosure of data messages which are harmful …” and creates mechanisms and procedures for determining and prosecuting the criminalised activities enumerated therein.

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Labour Inspections And Non-Compliance Detections

The Department of Labour conducts workplace inspections through labour inspectors to ascertain an employer’s compliance with labour legislation, the most important legislation being contained in the following Acts:

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Permanent Or Not, All Employees Are Equal Before The Law

The appeal of fixed-term and fixed-purpose contracts is to fill a temporary gap in the workplace without having to hire a full-time employee. Because of the short-term nature of such contracts, many employers misuse them in the erroneous belief that the temporary employee does not have the same rights as full-time staff.

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Changes To The Employee Retirement Age

The age at which an employee may retire is usually stipulated in their employment contract. Factors relating to the employee’s industry and the employer’s policies regulating retirement also play a role.

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National Minimum Wage Exemption Process

Whilst the National Minimum Wage Act prescribes minimum wages for all workers, the Act also makes provision for an employer or an employers’ organisation, acting on behalf of its members, to apply for an exemption.

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Locked Down At Home But Not Out Of The Workplace – A Case On An Employee’s Refusal To Return To Work During The Lockdown

Employees are obliged to respect and obey their employers because lack of respect renders the employment relationship intolerable and disobedience undermines the employer’s authority.

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Earning Threshold and Basic Conditions of employemnt

Employee Earnings Threshold And The Basic Conditions Of Employment Act

The Minister of Employment and Labour announced the new earnings threshold for employees will be adjusted to R211,596.30 (R17,633 per month). This adjustment means that any employee who earns more than R211,596.30 annually is excluded from the following sections of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act:

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Developments In Preventing And Eliminating Violence And Harassment In The Workplace

A Draft Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work was published for comment on the 20th of August 2020. Four forms of violence and harassment in the workplace are enumerated, namely: sexual violence and harassment; racial, ethnic, or social origin violence and harassment; workplace bullying; and protected disclosures. This code

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Employee Deviation And An Employer’s Vicarious Liability

Vicarious liability is a common-law doctrine whereby an employer is considered liable for the unlawful or delictual acts or omissions of an employee performed during the course and scope of their employment. The employer is held liable even though they did not, per se, engage in the wrongful conduct. The simple reason for this is that employees are the means by which an

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Coronavirus (COVID-19): Health & Safety Measures In The Workplace

In order to curb the spread of the coronavirus, President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his recent address to South Africa, implemented certain preventative measures and provided guidelines to citizens to prevent the virus from being further dispersed. Chief among these measures is that of social-distancing and of allowing employees to work from home. However, working from

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