An employer who alleges that an employee is under the influence of alcohol must prove on a balance of probabilities that the employee was indeed under the influence. Employers usually rely on a breathalyzer to establish whether the employee is intoxicated by alcohol. CONTACT CAPE LABOUR. For more information on labour law advice or services. Please feel free to contact us at Cape Labour Consultants and we will gladly assist […]
About THE SMS RESIGNATION A binding and valid employment contract can come into existence if the prospective employee communicates his or her acceptance of the employer’s offer of employment to the employer by means of a sms text message. Now the Labour Court has looked at the other side of the coin: whether an employee can terminate his or her employment by sending a senior manager a sms text message […]
The facts are straightforward: an employee is dismissed and the unfair dismissal dispute heads for the CCMA for arbitration. The employer shows up with an attorney in tow and the trade union representative (representing the employee) objects to the employer’s legal representation. The CCMA commissioner makes a ruling that legal representation would not be allowed. CONTACT CAPE LABOUR. For more information on labour law advice or services. Please feel free […]
Issuing Interdicts Issuing interdicts is a significant part of the Labour Court’s work. There are final interdicts and then there is the rule nisi. All of these have their own requirements that applicant must prove. And when an applicant approaches the Labour Court for urgent interim relief, the applicant must also be in a position to show why the matter is urgent. For further information on Interdicts or any labour […]
When it comes to workplace misconduct or offence, the seriousness of the misconduct is never an “intrinsic” or “inherent” issue. The gravity of misconduct must always be measured with reference to the employee’s showing remorse and, more importantly, the impact that the misconduct had (or could have, if it were to be repeated) on the employer’s business. CONTACT CAPE LABOUR. For more information on labour law advice or services. Please […]
STRIKES, MISCONDUCT AND DISMISSAL Are employees protected against Misconduct during a Strike? Even in the case of a protected strike, employees are not protected against misconduct committed during the course of the strike. This means that an employer can take disciplinary action against employees for damage to the employer’s property, and for intimidation and assault of non-striking workers. For further information on Strikes, Dismissal for misconduct or any labour related matters, […]
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 […]
