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 and equitable.

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 you. Cape Labour & Industrial Consultants is a Cape Town-based providing Labour Law (Industrial Relations) and advice to employers and employees across all market segments and industries since 1987.

For more information or to Contact Cape Labour. You can find all of our relevant details here.

W.Tel no.: 021-423-3959
Cell: 082-433-8714
Fax: 021-4232105
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

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 no.: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 8714
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

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. Please feel free to contact us at Cape Labour Consultants and we will gladly assist you. Cape Labour & Industrial Consultants is a Cape Town-based providing Labour Law (Industrial Relations) and advice to employers and employees across all market segments and industries since 1987.

For more information or to Contact Cape Labour. You can find all of our relevant details here.

W.Tel no.: 021-423-3959
Cell: 082-433-8714
Fax: 021-4232105
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

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. The other witnesses were too scared to give evidence. So instead of pursuing the route of misconduct, the employer dismissed the employees on the basis of operational requirements. The Labour Court found, first, that the employer should have held disciplinary enquiries (because there was sufficient hearsay evidence) and that it was not permissible for the employer to bypass the misconduct route and use the operational requirements dismissal instead.

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 you. Cape Labour & Industrial Consultants is a Cape Town-based providing Labour Law (Industrial Relations) and advice to employers and employees across all market segments and industries since 1987.

For more information or to Contact Cape Labour. You can find all of our relevant details here.

W.Tel no.: 021-423-3959
Cell: 082-433-8714
Fax: 021-4232105
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

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 of the enquiry after being suspended.

For further information on any labour related matters, you can contact
Bernard Reisner:

W.Tel no.: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 8714
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

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 information on any labour related matters, you can contact
Bernard Reisner:

W.Tel no.: 021-4233959
Fax: 021-4232105
Cell: 0824338714
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

The employment relationship is terminated by the employer, it is a case of dismissal. If the employee terminates the employment relationship, it constitutes a resignation. But there is, in principle, nothing preventing an employer and an employee from concluding a contract to terminate the employment contract a mutually agreed termination of employment. If it is really the case that there was a mutually agreed parting of the ways, there could be no claim of unfair dismissal, simply because there was no dismissal in the first place.

For further information on Unfair Dismissal or any labour related matters, you can contact Bernard Reisner:

W.Tel no.: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 8714
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

Employer must apply workplace rules and standards consistently this is not only a cornerstone of workplace justice, but also a consideration listed in the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal. In a recent arbitration, the arbitrator made the point that if the employee’s misconduct is serious enough to justify a dismissal, he or she cannot rely on the fact that another employee received a lesser sanction for a previous incident.

For further information on any labour related matters, you can contact
Bernard Reisner:

W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

Refusing an Alternative Job:

Section 41 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act provides that an employee who is dismissed for an operational reason is entitled to severance pay but the severance pay be forfeited if the employee unreasonably refuses an offer of alternative employment. The problem is always in determining whether the employee’s refusal of the other job was reasonable or not.

For further information on any labour related matters, you can contact
Bernard Reisner:

W.Tel no.: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 8714
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za

An employer was dismissed for failure to comply with an instruction to undergo a strip search. Upon a preliminary search, the security personnel noticed something suspicious and the employee was instructed to undergo a strip search (which did not, incidentally, entail the employee’s removing his underwear). The arbitrator concluded that the employee knew of the rule (which was contained in the employer’s Standard Operating Procedures) and that serious consequences attached to the breach of the rule.

For further information on any labour related matters, you can contact
Bernard Reisner:

W.Tel no.: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 8714
E-mail: bernard@capelabour.co.za
Website: www.capelabour.co.za