Valid B-BBEE certificates
Sourcing B-BBEE certificates are important for your B-BBEE score as it is taken into account when your Preferential Procurement score is calculated by a B-BBEE verification agency. When sourcing these documents, it is important to make sure that you receive a valid B-BBEE certificate from your suppliers. If the certificate is not valid, the verification agency will not take that certificate into account when your Preferential Procurement score is being calculated. Here is a list of things that...
Fraudulent medical certificates
Fraudulent medical certificates are quickly becoming one of the most common misconducts for which we chair hearings and quite often there is insufficient evidence to find an Employee guilty. This type of misconduct falls into the category of dishonest conduct. To find an employee guilty of dishonesty it must be established that he/she committed the offence with intent; the intent to benefit from it and the intent to mislead you. It is not enough to prove that the medical certificate was issued...
All Rand Mutual Assurance Members
The 2020 COID Policy Renewal is NOW OPEN You can now renew your COID policy for 2020, thereby ensuring that your employees enjoy cover against occupational injuries and diseases while on duty. Submit your employees’ earnings (actuals for 2019 and estimates for 2020) before 31st March 2020: To ensure that you remain in good standing, the deadline for submission of earnings is 31st March 2020. You need to declare your 2019 actual earnings for the period 1 March 2019 – 28 February...
Requirements for a successful Workplace Skills Plan submission
The Skills Development Act, 1998 as well as the 2012 SETA Grant Regulations, distinguishes between two types of grants, namely Mandatory grants and Discretionary grants. To apply for any Mandatory grants a company has to be registered with SARS and possess an allocated Skills Development Levy number (LXX07XXXXX). This is the sole responsibility of any company who has a total employment payroll which calculates to MORE THAN R 500 000.00 per year; as per Skills Development Regulation No. 35940);...
The unsolicited goods scam
A new trend has emerged where companies are using a marketing tactic in which goods are promoted and offered to be sold to consumers telephonically. The only problem is that the consumer is misrepresented and all the facts of the sale are not disclosed. At first, delivery of the products are made to the consumer but soon, without any order or acceptance, the same delivery is made within more or less one month. It then follows that consumers are subsequently threatened by agencies attempting to...
February financial year-end
And we are off! The New Year has started and you need to start attending to our B-BBEE to ensure you obtain the level required for your entity. One of the most important concepts in B-BBEE, which you have to remember, is that all financial contributions towards the following elements need to be made before your financial yearend: Socio-Economic Development;Enterprise Development;Supplier Development;Skills Development; Seeing as most companies have a February Financial year-end it...
CCMA not the end of the road
After an employee claims that he has been unfairly dismissed, the usual route to follow is to refer an unfair dismissal to the CCMA. The commissioner will then make a ruling and if any party does not agree with the ruling that party can take the matter on review to the Labour Court. However, if the case is not reviewable that is the end of the road, right? In a recent case of Archer v Public School - Pinelands and Others (C362/17) ZALCCT 10 the employee referred an unfair dismissal case to the...
Demystifying the Trust Relationship’s “hanging period”
The common term "justice delayed, is justice denied" holds weight in our law and is even enshrined in our Constitution. But how does it affect the Trust relationship when the dismissal of an employee is in the issue? The Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport v Motshosa and others [2005) BLLR 957 (LC) and Riekert vs CCMA and Others (2006) 4 BLLB 353 are cases wherein the Labour Court had found that the delay between the actual misconduct and the date of...
The adoption of zero-tolerance policy – is it a “license to kill’
Often times, employers find themselves having to deal with the tedious graduated disciplinary measures against employees that have transgressed the set disciplinary code in the workplace and the process can be found to be frustrating, driving the employers into adopting so-called ‘zero-tolerance policies’ in the workplace to expedite dealing with such transgressions. In terms of item 3(1) of Schedule 8 - Code of Good Practice: Dismissal of Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 on ‘disciplinary...
Limitations to the content of Section 56 Consumer Protection Act
The CPA imposes a built-in or automatic warranty (commonly known as a guaranty) that all goods sold comply with the requirements listed in Section 55. If the goods are not suitable for the purposes for which they are intended or otherwise fail to comply with the requirements listed in Section 55, the consumer is entitled to return them, at the supplier’s risk and expense and without penalty, and: (a) Have the item(s) repaired; or (a) Have the item(s) replaced; or (b) Get a full refund of the...