A better understanding of Incompatibility
Incompatibility is a term that is rare, vague and uncertain in our law as it is not mentioned as a possible ground or reason for dismissal in terms of Section 188 of Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA). According to Christianson (2002: 163), incompatibility has been defined as the inability on the part of the employee to work in harmony within the corporate culture of the business or with fellow employees (1994: 285-6). Grogan (2003: 277) similarly defines incompatibility as follows:...
Consumers Rights When It Comes To Direct Marketing
We have all received the unwanted unknown caller phone calls and answered it thinking “what if it is an emergency of a family member etc.” only to be pestered by the unwanted direct marketing calls. These days, one can install an application on your mobile, to identify spam and/or marketing calls, but it seems that the marketing companies have multiple numbers from which they phone and all of them have not been blocked on these applications. There are a few things that you should know as a...
When Do You Lose Your Right To Sought Relief?
As per Section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act 2011 (CPA), a consumer, as defined in the CPA, has the right to a refund, repair or replacement of goods. This is only up to a certain point. This right may only be exercised within 6 months of the date of transaction and if the goods are of inferior quality, unsafe or defective. What can be done in the event of a vehicle break-down within 6 months of purchase? In terms of the CPA, a consumer’s first step in resolution is to attempt to resolve...
A Brief Guideline To Procedural Fairness
Procedural fairness may be regarded as the “rights of the employee” in respect to the procedure to be followed during the disciplinary process. Employers should always ensure that they follow the correct procedure when dismissing employees. Even if there are good reasons for dismissal, such as theft or any other gross misconduct, an employer is still required to follow a fair procedure which includes providing the employee with an opportunity to state their case. Catching an employee...
Consumers Rights When It Comes To Direct Marketing
We have all received the unwanted unknown caller phone calls and answered it thinking “what if it is an emergency of a family member etc.” only to be pestered by the unwanted direct marketing calls. These days, one can install an application on your mobile, to identify spam and/or marketing calls, but it seems that the marketing companies have multiple numbers from which they phone and all of them have not been blocked on these applications. There are a few things that you should know as a...
Misconduct during after-hours work functions
It is that time of the year when employers start planning for the company’s Year-End Function. Unfortunately, you will always have that small group of employees who consume too much alcohol and gather enough courage to air their grievances with management or colleagues. These confrontations often end in physical fights or verbal abuse in plain sight of other employees or members of the public. Employers and employees are often under the impression that if an employee misbehaves outside normal...
The impact of discrimination in the workplace
Workplace discrimination is defined as a work environment that exhibits bias or discriminatory behaviour in the treatment of the employees based on a number of varying factors, such as marital status, gender, pregnancy, sexual preference, race, colour, nationality, disability, belief, or age. Such discrimination occurs at all stages and levels within an organisation, from employment to retrenchment, and from remuneration to assigning of job responsibilities. Discrimination in the workplace can...
Consent is not a simple answer to POPI legislation
Consent, as one of the justification grounds for lawful processing of information, can frequently be interpreted as meaning that one simply needs to obtain a “yes” from a data subject. This is not the case. The Responsible Party will always bear the burden of proof in that consent has been properly obtained from the data subject. The business must keep proper records in order to prove that the consent was obtained. The concept of consent can be complex and found in a variety of sections of the...
Compensation Fund New Assessment Model
On 16 October 2018, the South African Department of Labour issued Government Notice No. 1105 regarding the implementation of the Compensation Fund’s New Assessment Model. Currently the Compensation Fund assess employers on the basis of the industry they operate in, and are assigned a specific assessment class for the basis of determining their liability to the fund. The existing 102 sub classes will be mapped into 6 new main classes. The Compensation Fund is of the opinion that the new...
Employers Must Be As Constant As The Northern Star
Employers are often faced with allegations of being inconsistent in the application of a rule, be it late-coming or negligence or any other form of misconduct. As per Schedule 8 in the Code of Good Practice – Dismissal, in order to succeed with a substantively fair dismissal for misconduct, an employer must be able to satisfy the following questions in the affirmative: Is there a rule? Did the employee contravene the rule? Was the employee aware, or could reasonably have been expected to be...