Author: <span>Eben van Deventer</span>

Court News

HR City opposes Labour Legislation Law Amendments

Again HR City has elected to voice our concern over proposed amendments to labour legislation, including the implementation of the proposed Minimum Wage Bill (Read our Article Here).

Similarly to our actions in 2012 when HR City sought to intervene in what it viewed as dangerous and unfair changes to labour legislation (Read our Article Here) government has again sought to further restrict the rights of employers, even during an economic downturn which, in no small part is due to excessive over-regulation of the labour market.  Read more “HR City opposes Labour Legislation Law Amendments” →

CoalStrike News

Strike Looming in the Coal Sector

Over the past few months employers and employees in the coal sector have been negotiating wage increases in the Coal Sector. Employees, represented by the NUM, Solidarity, UASA and NUMSA have reached a deadlock with the represented employers, Exxaro Coal, Anglo American Coal, Glencore, Koornfontein, Kangra, Delmas Coal and Msobo Coal which may well result in a strike occurring across the entire sector.

Says Mr Peter Bailey, NUM Chief Negotiator in the Coal Sector in a press statement: “The Chamber of Mines members are pleading poverty when it comes to black workers yet white managers and executives have the luxury of being overcompensated.” Read more “Strike Looming in the Coal Sector” →

Minimum-Wage News

National Minimum Wage Legislation gets a nod from Cabinet

Cabinet has approved the draft legislation to implement a National Minimum Wage for South Africa. At present the new proposed National Minimum Wage is set at R 20.00 per hour, which translates to approximately R 3 900.00 per month. For a comparison, the current Minimum Wage for a Domestic Worker is around R 12.42 per hour or R 2 421.90 per month.

While it is unclear what the exemptions would be, working on the assumption that all Sectoral Minimum Wages will have to be increased, this legislation holds the potential to increase unemployment even more. Currently South Africa has an unemployment rate of 27.7% for the third quarter of 2017 and in what is likely to be a repeat of the Farm Workers Minimum Wage which saw a 0.8% increase in unemployment when it was implemented in 2013 over a period which historically shows a decrease in unemployment. Read more “National Minimum Wage Legislation gets a nod from Cabinet” →

WhoIsEmployee Article

When is an Independent Contractor actually an Employee?

Given the tough economic climate and the relatively high cost of employment, workforce flexibility becomes one of the most important considerations for any business. This is actively hampered by restrictive legislation which regulates Fixed-term and Temporary Employment and effectively makes it impossible for an employer to structure its’ business to make use of this form of employment.

An emerging trend has been the use of independent contractors, however this is not as simple as it seems. Section 200A of the Labour Relations Act (Act 66 of 1995), Assumption as to who is an Employee, sought to answer this question to a certain extent, and when read along with the Code of Good Practice, seems to favor a combination of tests, including the Read more “When is an Independent Contractor actually an Employee?” →

LabourPosters Article

Employment Posters

We are regularly asked which posters must be displayed at the workplace of our clients and for that reason and are then asked if our clients should also buy a list of posters which are available at the local stationary store.

Regardless of what your local stationer may say, there are only two (2) summary posters which you are required to display at the workplace for most businesses, however, as with all aspects of South African labour legislation, it is not merely that simple.

1. Summary of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (Act 75 of 1997 as amended) at Section 30 requires all employers to display the employee’s rights at a workplace in the prescribed form and in the official language(s) spoken by employees. This poster is ordinarily in an A2 format and is available from government printers, Hortor’s and various other sources. Read more “Employment Posters” →

HospitalityWorkers News

Hospitality Sector Minimum Wages 2017/18

From the 1st of July 2017, the minimum wages for the Hospitality Sector will be increased, are you ready?

The Department of Labour has listed the Hospitality Sector as a sector employing vulnerable workers, meaning that a larger interest is given on regulating their hours of work and minimum wages.

Another important consideration here is that due to the nature of work in this sector, employees are often paid low “Basic” wages with the addition of commission.  Read more “Hospitality Sector Minimum Wages 2017/18” →

Retrenchment Article

Retrenchment?

The importance of preparing your company to downsize

In the current economic climate, it has become increasingly necessary for many companies to start taking a hard look at their operational costs and find ways of maximizing productivity while minimizing expenditure. The fact that labour costs ordinarily constitute the lion’s share of a business’ expenses makes it the first target for penny-pinching managers and often times this will result in a management decision to reduce the workforce as a “quick-fix” to rebalance the books. The problem with this approach, however is that managers fail to grasp the legal complexities of a “Retrenchment” process, or Dismissals for Operational Requirements as it is legally known. Not only are there very specific procedural requirements which a company must adhere to, but there also exists a single major cost implication which could, in many cases make the decision to downsize less attractive to management who are seeking interim short term relief to budgetary pressures. Additionally, failing to prepare for the massive expense of such dismissals may very well turn out to be the final nail in the coffin of small businesses. Sections 189 and 189A of the LRA (Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 as amended) provide the outlines of the procedure that must be followed and Section 189A(13)(c) allows the Labour Court to reinstate* employees who were dismissed without such procedure. Read more “Retrenchment?” →

Contract Article

Are Temporary Contracts Dead

Following the promulgation of The Labour Relations Amendment Act (Act 6 of 2014) on the 1st of January 2015, various changes occurred within the framework of the Labour Relations Act (Act 66 of 1995, as amended) of which some impact om temporary wokrers. While many of these amendments became effective immediately on the 1st of January, some of the sections only became active on the 1st of April 2015 [Section 198B(8(b)].

Among these latter amendments were the new regulations surrounding Temporary Contracts of Employment. Specifically the new Sections 198B and 198D govern the manner in which these contracts should be dealt with.

The biggest concern for business has been the much publicized limitation of fixed term contracts to a period of only three (3) months [Section 198B(3)] and the manner in which a fixed term contract that has lasted for more than three (3) months would be deemed to be of an indefinite nature (Permanent) [Section 198B(5)]. Read more “Are Temporary Contracts Dead” →