Archive for October 2021
Mandatory Vaccinations: A roadmap for considering medical exemptions
Employers who wish to implement a mandatory vaccination policy must permit employees to raise objections or apply for exemption from the policy on the basis of, amongst others, medical grounds. The road map below provides employers with some of the considerations to take into account when determining an exemption application based on medical grounds. As…
Read MoreWhen failure becomes fatal: The consequences of defective referral forms in CCMA and bargaining council disputes
The rules governing the conduct of proceedings before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the various bargaining councils are binding on litigants before that forum. Any failure to obey the rules will attract the necessary consequences. In the Labour Appeal Court’s (LAC) judgment in Adams v National Bargaining Council for the Freight…
Read MoreRestraints of trade in light of recent judgments
There is a common assumption among employees (and many employers) that restraint of trade covenants are invalid and unenforceable especially in light of the right for South Africa citizens to choose their trade, occupation, or profession freely as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“the Constitution”). This assumption is incorrect…
Read MoreIs it legal for managers to work Sundays and public holidays without overtime pay?
Yes, but only if the manager can be regarded as a “senior managerial employee”, or if the manager earns over the relevant threshold determined by the Minister of Labour from time to time (currently R211 596 per annum, or R17 633 per month). This may, however, be superseded by a contract of employment that provides…
Read MoreReasonable expectation of permanent employment
Nowalaza and others v The office of the Chief Justice and others and another (J1177/2017) [2017] LC: The applicants in the recent decision in were judges’ secretaries (usually referred to as judges’ clerks or judges’ associates) employed by the Office of the Chief Justice (“OCJ”) and working in the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal…
Read MoreFixed Term Contract
Enforce security Group v Mwelase and 46 0thers-(2017) LAC In this case the employer employed security officers and placed them at the premises of its clients. The security officers’ employment contracts included an automatic termination clause which provided for the termination of the employee’s contract of employment on termination of the contract between the employer…
Read MoreDuty to Bargain
Minister of Defence v SANDU and others 2007 (4) BCLR 398 (SCA) The Supreme Court of Appeal had to decide whether there was a legal enforceable duty on the South African National Defence Force as the employer to bargain collectively with the military trade union and if there was such a duty and the employer…
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