Up to 180 000 of South Africa’s most vulnerable, injured or disabled workers are outraged at having been failed by the Compensation Fund and the software system “ glitches” that have caused prolonged delays in payments since mid-2019.

The Fund, a Department of Employment and Labour entity, launched the system, called Compeasy.

The Fund provides compensation for disablement caused by occupational injuries or diseases sustained or contracted by employees in the course of their employment, or for death resulting from such injuries or diseases.

The new system with a R300 million price tag is dysfunctional. Workers are waiting in vain for critical care, disability pensions and rehabilitation, and some are losing their livelihoods and homes because they can no longer work.

Doctors and therapists around the country who provided specialized Injury on Duty care, and the companies that provided them with financial help, were facing financial ruin because the Fund was not paying their invoices.

Bernard Reisner

Oranjezicht.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

Is your employer paying you the National Minimum Wage?

If you are not paid the national minimum wage of R20.76 per hour.

• R18.69 per hour for farm workers.
• R15 57 per hour for domestic workers.
• R11.42 per hour for workers under the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Then dial the FREE IMPIMPA HOTLINE.

The Department of Employment and Labour is pumping R20 million towards marketing the Impimpa Hotline geared for enforcing compliance by employers of the R20.76 an hour national minimum wage (NMW).

The department was partnering with cellular provider Vodacom to enable anonymous lodging of complaints via any cell phone without visiting the labour centres.

Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi assured workers that they would be protected when they anonymously report employers who do not comply with payment of the R20.76 per hour national minimum wage.

Bernard Reisner

Oranjezicht.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

In terms of the Government Gazette, Regulation Gazette No. 11041, Vol. 656, dated 17 February 2020, No. 43026;

The National minimum wage is R20.76 for each ordinary hour worked with effect from 01 March 2020.

The minimum hourly rate for Farm workers is R18.68.

The new domestic worker minimum wage increase will take effect from
01 March 2020. The domestic worker shall receive a minimum hourly rate of
R15.57, across the board.

The minimum hourly rate for Expanded Public Works Programme employees is R11.42.

Workers who have concluded Learnership agreements contemplated in section 17 of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No.97 of 1998), are entitled to the allowances contained in Schedule 2, of the National Minimum Wage.

The minimum wage increase continues to be marginal, which means that these workers will continue to eke out a living in these dire economic times. These vulnerable employees do not have much to rejoice about in the forthcoming year and will continue to struggle to fight for their rights.

These current minimum hourly rates continue to be inadequate to financially sustain the employees and their families, on a month to month basis.

Bernard Reisner

Oranjezicht.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

The Minimum Wage tables for domestic workers are currently on hold for 2020.

The National Minimum Wage Commission was set up in 2018 to oversee the national minimum wage recognizing all workers as equal under the law. It is currently reviewing the National Minimum Wage.

Stakeholders in government, labour and business, represented in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), first signed the national minimum wage agreement in February 2017. The bill was approved by Cabinet later in 2017, and President Cyril Ramaphosa signed it into law in 2018.

Currently, farm workers are entitled to R18.00 an hour, domestic workers to R15.00 an hour and Expanded Public Works Programme workers to R11.00 an hour. All other workers are entitled to R20.00 an hour.

In the latter part of January 2020, organized labour at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) has accused the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Commission of failing workers after only 5% was proposed as an increment. In essence, they have slammed the proposed increase to the National Minimum Wage Commission’s recommendation to the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulasi Nxesi.

There will be a further debate amongst the stakeholders to reach a resolution, in the coming weeks.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

Employers and/or employees are entitled to secretly record conversations in the workplace, such as general meetings and disciplinary hearings. These recordings can be made without the consent of the other party, in terms of the Rica Act.

An employee may record workplace conversations between him/her and the employer especially when the employer has a history of misconstruing the truth. Having evidence in the form of audio recordings shall avoid disputes of facts as to whom said what.

However, if an employee secretly records conversations between him/her and the employer, it could result in mistrust or friction in the employment relationship.

If, on the other hand, an employer secretly records an employee/s and makes it a common practice and the employee/s become aware of this fact, it could harm the employment relationship between the parties.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

An employer is entitled to ensure that his employees work in a harmonious working environment.

Incompatibility relates to an employee’s inability to maintain a cordial and harmonious relationship with his/her colleagues or owners of the business. It results in an irretrievable breakdown in the employment relationship, caused by the employee.

The employer has a duty to engage with the employee to ascertain the reasons for the incompatibility, properly counsel the employee and warn the employee that if he/she fails to rectify the disharmonious conduct, it may lead to his /her termination of services.

The employee must be given an opportunity to rectify the disharmony with the aim to restoring an amicable working relationship.

It’s the employer’s duty to make genuine efforts to improve the employee’s incompatibility and discuss possible remedial actions to remove the cause of the disharmony.

Having adhered to the above, if the employee continues to fail to rectify the disharmonious working relationship, the employer can issue the employee with a notice to attend an incompatibility hearing and call for the employee’s dismissal preceding the conclusion of the incompatibility hearing.

Labour Law Experts offers you more news and information.

For further information, you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

Job Seekers and prospective students who submit fraudulent qualifications or misrepresent their credentials face up to 5 years in prison in terms of a tough new law criminalising presenting falsified certificates.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Amendment Act 2019 into law on Monday 19 August 2019. Five-year sentences, unspecified fines or both will be handed to individuals found guilty of making false  entries in the national learner’s records database or the misrepresented or  fraudulent register; are party to the falsification, dissemination  or publication of a qualification or part-qualification of any person or the database’s records;  or the misrepresented or fraudulent qualifications register. Owners of bogus education institutions will also face jail time for awarding fraudulent qualifications. “A person, an education institution or skills development provider is guilty of an offence if a person, the education institution or skills development provider claims to be offering a qualification or part-qualification registered on the NQF whereas that qualification or part-qualification is not so registered”.

Jail time also looms for those who falsely or fraudulently claim to be holding qualifications or part-qualifications registered on the NQF or awarded by an education institution, skills development provider, quality council or obtained from a lawfully recognized foreign institution. The Act also provides for the establishment of a separate register of misrepresented or fraudulent qualifications, which is expected to be published periodically and act as a deterrent to individuals, educational institutions and skills development providers.

The Act will come into operation on the date determined by President Cyril Ramaphosa by proclamation in the government gazette.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

Horseplay can refer to any unsafe act that is caused by an individual and usually it is seen as “it’s all in the name of fun”. These unsafe acts include but are not limited to:

• Pranks
• Practical Jokes
• Unauthorized competitions/contests
• Harassment
• Damage of company property
• Intoxication (Year-end functions, Team Building)
• Poor vehicle operation
• Unsafe Acts as a result of fooling around.

Horseplay is an activity that usually starts out with harmless intentions.

An employee may act on impulse, during working hours, and do something silly which may result in disciplinary action being taken against that employee. The employee may be issued with a first or final written warning or may be dismissed, subsequent to a disciplinary hearing. In essence, progressive discipline may have to be adhered to dependent on the facts pertaining to the horseplay in question.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

Can an employer dismiss employees because they refuse to agree to a change to their terms and conditions of employment?

An employer, in the context of a retrenchment exercise, may dismiss employees for refusing to accept a change to terms and conditions of employment, provided of course that the employer can demonstrate that there is a genuine operational need to change terms and conditions of employment; that there is no reasonable alternative to dismissal; and that a fair consultation process has been followed.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za

An employer may only require or permit an employee to perform night work, if so

agreed, and if—

(a) the employee is compensated by the payment of an allowance, which may be

a shift allowance, or by a reduction of working hours; and

(b) transportation is available between the employee’s place of residence and the

workplace at the commencement and conclusion of the employee’s shift.

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act does not make a provision for free meals for employees who work overtime. This provision has to be negotiated between the parties and if the parties agree to a free meal, for employees who work overtime, it should be set out in an employment contract or any other written agreement entered into between the parties.

For further information you can contact Bernard Reisner:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za