The Employer’s Test: Employee or Independent Contractor? It is important to distinguish between employees and independent contractors because their status determines their remuneration and how they pay taxes. An independent contractor is an independent business person who runs his or her own business but who does work for another business. An employee is hired by a company to perform specific work at the discretion of the employer. How to distiguish between an employee and an independent...

General incapacity has become a big discussion point in all relevant forums as the term ‘general incapacity’ is not specified in Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). The concept of general incapacity entails that there are some external factors that preclude an employee from performing his duties, the result of which might make the continued employment of the employee untenable. Incapacity should not be limited to ill health, injury or poor work performance. A general incapacity...

Whenever you need to take disciplinary action against an employee for alleged misconduct there are 5 important factors you (the employer) should take into consideration. Before any action is instituted against an employee, ask yourself these 5 questions: Is there a rule? The obligation is on the employer to prove that he/she did implement a rule. For example, if there is a zero tolerance policy for certain misconduct, this rule should have been implemented before action is taken against...