About Restraints of Trade Our law recognize that an employer my have an interest it wants to protect its own confidential information being used by a former employee now working for a competitor. There is a principle that contracts voluntarily entered into must be complied with and that such contracts will be enforced by the Courts if needed. But there is another principle that contracts that are against public interests […]
Repudiation of Contract Once an employer and an employee conclude a contract of employment, the employer must accept the employee into employment and provide him or her with the contractually agreed work. An employer is therefore obliged to allow the employee to perform his or her service in accordance with the agreed contract of service. Where an employee, refuses to tender his or her services in terms of the contract […]
In some cases parties, abuse the process before the Labour Court, this may include making false or scandalous statements before the Court or even launching proceedings in the Labour Court when they should know that they in fact have no case. But the Labour Court is not a court to be messed with in this way it can always make a punitive cost order against the union and/or its employees. […]
When ordering compensation (instead of reinstatement) a CCMA commissioner has considerable discretion to order compensation he or she sees as “just and equitable”. In the ordinary course of things, the Labour Court is reluctant to interfere with the CCMA commissioner’s exercise of discretion because as a rule there is some indication in the commissioner’s award as to why the compensation was ordered and why the compensation was seen as just […]
May an employer ask the Labour Court to intervene in disciplinary proceedings that have not been completed? Does the Labour Court have the power to interdict the employer from proceedings with a disciplinary enquiry? The Labour Court came to the conclusion that it does not have jurisdiction to remedy a wrong in respect of disciplinary proceedings For further information on any labour related matters, you can contact Bernard Reisner: W.Tel […]
Some employers call for polygraph tests regularly almost as a matter of course. The dangers of this kind of evidence are well known, but these dangers do not mean that a CCMA commissioner can simply ignore evidence from a polygraph especially if there is sufficient corroborating supporting evidence given in respect of the person who administered the test. CONTACT CAPE LABOUR. For more information on labour law advice or services. […]
What is an employer to do if an employee is taken into police custody and is absent from work for an extended period? In some cases, depending on the work done by the employee, the employer may be able to keep the position or use a temporary employee to do the work while the employee is in prison. But this may well rarely be feasible and an employer may have […]
What happens if an employer cannot prove disciplinary charges against an employee or a group of employees? May the employer then dismiss the employees on the basis of operational requirements? In a recent decision of the Labour Court, the employer’s key witness disappeared and the employer took the view that it could no longer prove intimidation and assault on the part of employees during the course of a protected strike. […]
It is astonishing, the lengths some employees will go to in order to avoid a disciplinary enquiry believing, usually, that if they are not heard, they cannot be dismissed (or that they can claim compensation from the employer through the CCMA or a bargaining council). But, of course, a disciplinary hearing can go on in the absence of the employee, assuming, of course, that the employee had received due notice […]
Mildred Oliphant takes over her portfolio at a time that her department is without a director general. Jimmy Manyi was suspended in June by Oliphant’s predecessor, Membathisi Mdladlana, over the remarks he allegedly made at a meeting with officials from the Norwegian embassy on black economic empowerment. Among the minister’s challenges will be the issues of labour brokers, workplace safety and calls for a mmore flexible labour environment. For further […]
