Refusal to Accept Reasonable Alternative Offer

In terms of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, the Employer is obliged to try and find alternative positions for the people who are occupying positions that will in due course become redundant. If there is a reasonable and similar position to the one held by the employee affected, and this position is offered at a similar salary, then the refusal to accept same will negate the necessity to pay a severance payment to that employee.

The refusal must be justifiable and reasonable in order to lay claim once again to the severance payment. The Labour Court has come forward on a few occasions to state that there is no necessity to pay any severance payment (even the one week’s pay per completed year of service) if in fact the offer of alternative employment was fair and reasonable in all the circumstances. Please note that even a transfer from one region to another could be deemed to be a fair and reasonable offer.

For any further Labour Law related queries, please contact Bernard on:
W. Tel: 021 423 3959
Fax: 021 423 2105
Cell: 082 433 3959
Email: bernard@capelabour.co.za