In the case of MEC for Education (North West Provincial Government) v M (JA37/2012) [2017] ZALAC 13 (3 February 2017), a school principal was disciplined for sexually harassing a fellow teacher on two separate occasions.
The traditional realm of copyright is being tested in a world where “liking”, “retweeting”, and “pinning” have become part of everyday life.
The issue of whether arbitration awards prescribe after the three-year lapse, has been considered in numerous conflicting judgments of the Labour Court.
Although an employee has a right to privacy, it is not absolute. The employee’s case, in NUMSA and Another v Rafee N.O. and Others (JR1022/12) [2016] ZALCJHB 512, was that the employer’s instruction that he hand over his mobile phone for inspection violated his right to privacy.
Time is of the essence when dealing with labour disputes and litigants should be mindful that they need to treat these disputes with urgency.
A word of caution to South African companies with branches outside of South Africa: the Labour Appeal Court has confirmed in Monare v South African Tourism and Others [2016] (Monare) that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) may have jurisdiction to hear employment disputes that arise abroad, where an employee works at a branch office located outside South Africa.
Traditional family units across the world have changed. The proposed changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, No 75 of 1997 (BCEA) recognise those changes and the important roles that different people play in raising children in a modern family unit.
Issue: Whether the dismissal of the applicants amounted to an automatically unfair dismissal on the basis of gender.
In the recent unreported case of Kalipa Mtati v KPMG Services (Pty) Ltd (Case No: J2277/16), an employee submitted two resignation letters to her employer.
Issue: When does a dismissal take place and what must be shown to prove that fact?
In 2003, the Minister of Labour issued a schedule to clarify the requirements of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) for the correct calculation of leave pay, notice pay and severance pay.
Private arbitration clauses are a common feature in employment contracts. It is often argued that the private arbitration process provides parties with more control over the entire arbitration process – from choosing the arbitrator, the venue and the time periods, to the exact scope of the arbitrator’s powers.
Whether the employees’ fixed term contracts were cancelled to avoid the ‘deeming provisions’ of the Labour Relations Act (LRA)? If so, whether the termination of the contracts should be regarded as an unfair dismissal?
When an employer has reason to believe that an employee has committed serious misconduct it may be necessary to conduct an investigation prior to commencing a disciplinary process.
In the case of Opperman v CCMA and Others (C530/2014) [2016] ZALCCT 29 (17 August 2016), the employee, who was employed as a nurse, was asked to undergo a breathalyser test by her employer.