Due to the impact of COVID-19, many employers found themselves in financial distress and as such, had no alternative but to implement retrenchments to reduce personnel for the business to survive.
If the circumstances are of such a nature that the business will most probably improve systematically as the levels of the national lockdown decreases and there is currently still workload to attend to, then the employer can rather implement a system of reduced working hours namely short time to avoid retrenchment.
What does “short time” entail? According to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), short time means a “temporary reduction in the number of ordinary hours of work owing to reasons including slackness of trade, shortage of raw material, vagaries of weather, breakdown of plant machinery or buildings that are unfit for use or is in danger of becoming fit for use”.
Therefore, short time is usually implemented owing to circumstances beyond the employer’s control like the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Why short time? An employer can implement short time for various reasons. The most common reasons are that there is still sufficient work available to be distributed among the employees and to enable employees to still earn an income during the pandemic etc.
During a system of short time, the employees work shorter hours for a temporary period and are only remunerated for the actual hours worked.
The following are essential requirements for short time to be fairly implemented in the workplace:
- The employee’s contract of employment should make provision for short time, unless it is being stipulated in a collective agreement that regulates a specific industry;
- In the absence of a short time clause in the employment contract or no industry-specific collective agreement is applicable, the employee then needs to consent to short time being implemented as short time temporarily amend employment terms and conditions such as working hours and remuneration;
- If the employee refuses to consent to short time being implemented, then the employer can either follow the retrenchment process or if the employer does not want/have to reduce personnel at that specific stage, then a system of lay off can also be implemented.
Therefore, short time cannot be unilaterally enforced by the employer unless it is stated in the employment contract or is regulated by a collective agreement in a specific industry.
For any Labour related queries, contact your nearest SEESA office, alternatively leave your contact details on SEESA’s website.
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Recognition for this article is given to the original author Fadia Arnold – Legal Practitioner at Schoemanlaw Inc. (Published on 5 April 2020: Most read: Contributor South Africa, January 2020.)
About the Author:
Frikkie van Tonder obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Comm Law) degree in 2009 from the University of the Free State. In 2011 he obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of the Free State and completed his articles of clerkship in 2012. In April 2012, the author was admitted as an Attorney in die Free State High Court, Bloemfontein. After admission, he practised as an attorney for two and a half years before starting his career at SEESA’s Bloemfontein branch in June 2015 as a Legal Advisor in the Labour Department.