Many employers face the reality of inevitably having to consider retrenchment. Employers see the changing requirement of the company and realise they might need to retrench, but for several reasons, they prolong the decision to start the consultations with affected employees. Reasons may include: Employers hoping the business would turn around, for example, an employer who has given out several large quotations and hope for them to be accepted;Employers do not want to scare employees and risk...

Termination of the employment relationship can take place in different ways. A few to mention may be in the event of a death of an employee, by the employee’s dismissal, when an employee retires, by mutual agreement or on the instance of an employee. If an employee resigns, the employee would have to provide an advanced notice period to the employer. The notice period is, however, dependent on several factors: First, if there is no contract of employment between the employer and employee...

Section 200 of the Labour Relations Act states that a registered trade union or registered employers’ organisation may act as representatives to employees in workplace disputes. In Calgan Lounge v EFF & Others (J2648/18), handed down in the Labour Court, the EFF’s role in workplace issues was considered. A political party cannot derive powers to interfere in the workplace from the Constitution, as the rights in the Constitution are given effect to in the LRA, specifically designated to...

Dismissal for petty theft has always been a severe debatable issue in the labour field. In the case of Nando’s Scottsville v CCMA and Others (D06/2019), an employee was dismissed for eating two individual slices of carrots from the bain-marie. The employee was charged with the following: ‘Unauthorised Consumption of Company Stock – in that they alleged that  the employee was dishonest by consuming company stock being vegetables whilst on duty on the 08/04/2018 at Nando’s Scotville.’ The...