Citing charges for a disciplinary hearing – Getting it right, the first time

When an employer institutes a disciplinary hearing against an employee, the employee is entitled to know and understand the nature of the charge(s) against him/her. As the employee has a right to answer or provide an explanation to the charge(s) against him/her (known as the audi alteram partem rule), employers need to make sure that they provide the employee with …

The importance of contract renewal after expiry of fixed-term contracts

In Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries v Teto and Others,1 the Labour Appeal Court (“LAC”) considered whether the termination of employees initially engaged on fixed-term contracts constituted a dismissal on the basis that the employees had become indefinitely employed when they were permitted to work beyond the expiry date in their fixed-term contracts. In this case, the employees had been engaged on fixed-term contracts …

Drafting employment contracts for ad hoc activities

It often happens that employers give instructions to employees that do not form part of their usual routine. This article will briefly discuss whether employees are obliged to execute all instructions received from their employer or supervisor, even if it is not what the employee was employed to do. As a point of departure, normally, an employee’s job description will be contained in their employment agreement. However, …

No work-no pay – What does the law say?

Many employers were left in the dark after the President of the Republic of South Africa declared a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002, and implemented a national lockdown thereafter, as a means of reducing the spread of COVID-19. Employers who did not provide “essential services” were in an extraordinary position and due to the uncertain future, a lot of industries faced immense financial pressure. …

“But it wasn’t me” doesn’t cover it

As a point of departure, the doctrine of vicarious liability means that the employer is held liable for the wrongful acts or omission of its employees.  The difficult issue which one needs to examine when dealing with these sorts of cases is to establish whether the wrongful act arose in the course of the employee’s duties. The Supreme Court of …

Racism in the workplace – It’s not always black or white

Introduction This article discusses two recent Constitutional Court judgments, which deal with racism, or perceived racism, in the workplace. Although each judgment and respective outcome should be understood in the context of the specific facts, certain parallels are worth noting. Both judgments had to decide whether the language used in the context was racist. In both cases, the employees concerned …

Dismissing an employee for racism

There are different reasons why an employer might consider firing an employee. After teacher Keith Arlow had been fired from St John’s College in Johannesburg for being found to have victimised pupils based on their race, the question of dismissal due to racism was brought up. Initially, Arlow was issued with a final written warning, stepped down from senior positions …