Current Articles
Maternity Benefits
(
23 April 2010
)
Section 25 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act ("
BCEA") provides that an employee is entitled to at least four consecutive months' unpaid maternity leave. This article is concerned with the benefits that are payable to an employee whilst she is on maternity leave.
Data protection
(
23 April 2010
)
Currently, privacy and data protection in South Africa is regulated by section 14 of the Constitution (right to privacy), the common law right to privacy and the provisions of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 and the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000. In August 2009, the Protection of Personal Information Bill ("
the Bill") was tabled in Parliament and it is anticipated that the Bill will be finalised in May 2010.
Update on labour broker issue
(
23 April 2010
)
In December 2009, the Namibian Supreme Court of Appeals held that the banning of labour brokers in Namibia was inappropriate and not permissible. The Federation of Unions of South Africa ("
FEDUSA") welcomed this outcome saying that any absolute prohibition was unreasonable because the "
constitutional objectives can be achieved by regulatory (means)."
The Inconsistency Defence: but he didn’t get fired!
(
23 April 2010
)
Fairness requires that disciplinary proceedings against an employee be heard before an independent chairperson who weighs the evidence and comes to a decision on the charges proffered by the employer against the employee. The chairperson is often a senior employee who has been trained in decision-making in disciplinary enquiries, is knowledgeable about the employer's disciplinary rules and procedures and undoubtedly has some understanding of fairness principles and perhaps even labour law concepts.
So, no more muddy puddle?
(
23 April 2010
)
The Supreme Court of Appeal recently handed down judgment in
McKenzie v SAMSA, a judgment that may signal the end of a debate, plaguing and perplexing as it was, that should perhaps never have existed at all.
Part 2 - Bye-Bye Employees – By Hook or by Crook?
(
10 December 2009
)
In Part 1 of this article (published in the previous Webber Wentzel Employment and Employee Benefits Practice Group e-Alert) we discussed the matter of
Aviation Union of South Africa obo Barnes and others v South African Airways (Pty) Limited and others1 in which the Labour Appeal Court confirmed that second-generation outsourcing triggers the application of section 197 of the Labour Relations Act (
"the LRA"). The purpose of Part 2 is to highlight some of the practical issues that may arise in this context for an employer which is compelled to transfer a portion of its workforce, either to its principal with which it initially contracted to conduct certain services, or to the new service provider to such principal. In order to contextualise these issues, it is helpful to posit a set of facts giving rise to the application of section 197.
Caught looking too happy on Facebook
(
10 December 2009
)
On a lighter note – it has been reported that a Canadian employee of IBM who was booked off work for depression had her long term disability benefit stopped by the insurance company.
Employee data protection – new law expected in 2010
(
10 December 2009
)
It is widely expected that the Protection of Personal Information Bill will be passed into law by April 2010. The Bill will give effect to the constitutional right to privacy of personal information and bring South African legislation into line with international data protection law.
New rules for reviews
(
05 November 2009
)
On 9 October 2009 the Rules of Procedure for Judicial Review of Administrative Action in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 ("PAJA") were published (GG NO. 32322). The PAJA Rules will come into effect on a date to be promulgated. Rule 1 provides that these rules "
apply to proceedings for judicial review in the High Court, the Labour Court or the Magistrates' Courts." Interestingly, the original draft of the PAJA Rules did not apply to the Labour Court.
