The rights and responsibilities of employers and employees alike are customarily embodied in the age old “control test” developed from an early stage in South African jurisprudence. Control and supervision of a particular person (the Employee) by another (the Employer), in various respects, has long been a defining characteristic of the common employer-employee relationship. Arguably…

Employment law places a high premium on honesty.  The foundation of the employment relationship is trust and confidence.  Where this foundation is damaged, the parties cannot be expected to continue with the employment relationship.  The case of Mothiba v Exxaro Coal (Pty) Ltd t/a Grootgeluk Coal Mine considers the consequences of dishonesty and misrepresentation by an employee. …

In the recent South African Labour Appeal Court (“LAC”) decision of Total South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Meyer and others, the LAC, in addressing the issue of whether the decision to grant maximum compensation for a substantively and procedurally unfair retrenchment was exercised judicially, made significant remarks in respect of an employer’s obligation to comply with…

A recent South African High Court decision explores some interesting issues regarding the scope of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Commission’s (the “Commission”) investigative powers, as well as what constitutes a fronting practice. CRRC E Loco Supply (“CRRC”) was incorporated as a joint venture between CSR: Zhuzhou Electrical Locomotives (a Chinese-owned entity) (“CSR”) and Matsete Basadi Consortium…

The Personal Information Act (POPIA) came into effect as of 1 July 2020, with a grace period of a year in which any person or organisation who keeps any type of records relating to the personal information of anyone, unless those records are subject to other legislation which protects such information more stringently,  must ensure that…

On 10 August 2021, the South African Minister of Employment and Labour gazetted Regulations which established a temporary financial relief scheme for workers who have lost income due to the partial or full closure of workplaces destroyed, damaged, looted or otherwise affected by the recent unrest.  The scheme is a welcome intervention in circumstances where…

The legal pathway has been created for employers to make it mandatory for staff to be vaccinated and employers who decided to make the vaccination mandatory may experience some significant challenges especially when it comes to employees refusing to be vaccinated.   Mandatory vaccination has brought out to some important questions: • Is a risk assessment a…

Employee was given notice to attend a Disciplinary Hearing for misconduct.  On the day that the employee received the notice to attend the Disciplinary Hearing, she tendered her “resignation with immediate effect”.  The employer assumed that the employee had to serve four-weeks’ notice, the employee argued that her letter of “resignation with immediate effect” ended…

The civil unrest that South Africa faced this past week has left many employers asking questions such as: What may an employer do if its employee is seen on social media participating in the civil unrest? What if the employee is found to have stolen property and is correctly identified? May an employer dismiss an…

The Constitutional Court recently in NUMSA obo Nganezi & Others v Dunlop Mixing and Technical Services (Pty) Ltd & Others (2019) 40 ILJ 1957 (CC) (“Dunlop”) clarified the limits of the doctrine of derivative misconduct, as it was understood at the time. The Court considered the vexed question of determining the individual culpability of an employee in the context…