Bakenrug Meat (Pty) Ltd t/a Joostenberg Meat v CCMA and Others (LAC) (CA8/2020, 18-1-2022) (Davis JA with Savage AJA and Waglay JP concurring). The appellant’s business involves producing and selling a range of meat products.  It employed the third respondent employee as a sales representative in October 2013. In October 2016, the employer became aware…

In Mosikili v South African Board of Sheriffs [2022] 2 BLLR 197 (WCC), the applicant, a Sheriff falling under the jurisdiction of the South African Board for Sheriffs (the respondent), was found guilty on a slew of charges for misconduct. The respondent’s Disciplinary Committee recommended that the applicant be barred from acting as a Sheriff.…

While there have been moves from the legislature to combat violence and harassment in the workplace, in many respects, the South African legislative framework was seen as falling short until Friday, 18 March 2022.  The Code creates a greater obligation on employers to counteract the devastating effects of violence and harassment in the workplace and…

The Labour Court has delivered a judgment dismissing a challenge to an employer’s vaccination policy. The employer’s policy required employees to either vaccinate or produce a negative Covid-19 test result within the past 7 days to gain access to its premises. The court rejected the employee’s argument that the vaccination policy breached or unilaterally changed…

Woolworths (Pty) Ltd v CCMA and Others (LAC) (unreported case no PA12/2012, 10-12-2021) (Davis JA with Waglay JP and Savage AJA concurring). On the morning of 9 June 2018, the employee called his manager informing him that he had taken ill and would not be attending work that day.  However, later the very same day,…

Developing legal approach to mental health in the workplace:  Compensation Commissioner v Georgia Badenhorst case Mental health and its effect on an individual’s functionality has increased in prominence in the last few years.  The case of Compensation Commissioner v Georgia Badenhorst [2022] ZAECGHC 1 touches on the importance of mental health in the workplace and how…

The regulation of working time for employees who earn in excess of certain amount per year (the “earnings threshold”), is different to that of lower earning employees.  Working time is also regulated differently for senior managerial employees even if they earn less than the earnings threshold.  How does this work, and are there other implications?…

A newly proposed government policy seeks to limit the number of foreign nationals employed at businesses, foreign-owned SMMEs and foreign platform service providers, such as e-hailing drivers. The policy gives the director-general of the Department of Labour the power to seek a fine from the Labour Court of up to R100 000 on any business whose…

For the first time in the history of South Africa, the government has formulated a comprehensive National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP), says Employment and Labour minister Thulas Nxesi. In a media briefing on Monday (28 February), Nxesi said the policy has been researched extensively and benchmarked internationally for best practice. “It has become increasingly apparent,…

How does the labour court decide whether a business is a “going concern” for the purpose of s197? Well, as lawyers are fond of saying – “…it depends on the facts”. The saying is especially true in decisions on whether what is being sold, outsourced, insourced, contracted out or merged is a – “business” (which)…