BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on 0828522973 or on e-mail address:
Where two entities are conducting themselves as one enterprise they may, under certain circumstances, be held liable for ill treatment of each other’s employees.
In the case of Foorwear Trading cc vs Mdladlose (CLL Vol. 15 No. 1 August 2005) a very different decision was made. When Mdladlose was dismissed she sued her employer, Fila (Pty) Ltd at CCMA. The arbitrator found the dismissal to be unfair and ordered reinstatement with full back pay. When the employer failed to comply with the award the employee went to Labour Court citing both Fila and its associate company, Footwear Trading. She asked the Court to order compliance with the CCMA award and to find Footwear Trading jointly liable because, while Fila had dismissed her, Footwear had:
Footwear Trading denied any significant link with Fila claiming that it merely did administrative work for Fila. However, the Court found
Read more: When is a third party liable for labour law transgressions?
Every employee has the right not to be: (a) unfairly dismissed or (b) subjected to an unfair labour practice. Section 186(2) of the Labour Relations Act66 of 1995 defines an unfair labour practice in more detail: “Unfair labour practice” means any unfair act or omission that arises between an employer and an employee involving –
Tshabalala v University of South Africa(2018) 9 BALR 1032 (CCMA)is a recent arbitration decision that highlighted an unfair labour practice which related to remuneration and job grading. An employee after commencing employment with her employer as a switchboard operator was elevated to the post of project manager.
Participate in the South African Learning Agility in HR study and test your own agility.
Do you ask your colleagues for help if you need to do something new at work? Or do you prefer to figure it out by yourself? By measuring your Learning Agility, you will discover how you deal with new situations.
Introducing the Learning Agility in HR Research Study
HFMtalentindex, in partnership with HRworks, HRPulse, IPM, HR Network and the Singularity Company, are carrying out a South African study into the Learning Agility of HR professionals.
The South African HR landscape is swiftly changing in response to the demands of increased competition, technology, big data and more. In five to ten years, there will be virtually no jobs or functions within HR that have remained unchanged. We want to find out how agile HR is, and needs to become, in the face of these changes.
Absenteeism and poor performance are without a doubt two of the most challenging employment management issues that employers struggle with on a continuous basis. Employers become despondent about the impact on productivity and service levels, and increasingly frustrated with employees who are unreliable and cannot be trusted to deliver. Looking for a quick fix when reaching the point where frustration levels become intolerabl,e is not the answer.
INTRODUCTION
Absenteeism and poor performance are two of the most unmanaged areas in the workplace – which can be due to fear of conflict, procrastination, lack of control and in many instances, lack of knowledge.
We are regularly contacted by employers who have reached a point where they have no tolerance left for problems with an employee in this regard and then want a quick solution for ending the employment relationship, usually in the form of a disciplinary hearing on a charge of “sick leave abuse” or “poor performance”, as mentioned in their disciplinary code.
Read more: Sick Leave Abuse, Poor Performance and The Disciplinary Code
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on 0828522973 or on e-mail address:
Employees facing disciplinary hearings are entitled to many rights including that of the proper opportunity to prepare for the hearing in advance. This right stems from the more basic right that accused employees have to defend themselves against the charges brought.
The employee’s right to sufficient opportunity to prepare has three facets:
In the case of Oliver vs Universiteit van Stellenbosch (Contemporary Labour Law Vol. 14 No. 9 April 2005)
Read more: Employees have the right to prepare for disciplinary hearings
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