News & Resources

Our company wants to help out one of our oldest clients by allowing some of our labourers to work for a few months for the client on a project at the client’s site. The client has had to layoff staff during Covid-19 and we would temporarily help him out with our labourers. We would continue to pay our staff with the client paying us a service fee for the labourers and other support services. Our human resources manager however is concerned that we could be seen as labour brokers should we move forward with this arrangement. Would this be the case?

I own a large paper and packaging business. A trade union official from a union registered in the mining industry approached me seeking organisational rights in my business. I am reluctant to grant this request as their constitution does not even make provision for our industry. Do I have an obligation to provide such rights and can I reject such a request?

I work for a construction company and was appointed in 2014 on a fixed-term contract of two years, which would automatically renew annually thereafter if the project work is not completed. The project is ongoing and so my contract keeps renewing, but I don’t get the same benefits as the other workers in the office that are permanently employed and have been there shorter than me. I know I signed a contract, but it does feel like I’m being prejudiced because I’m on a fixed-term contract. 

I work as a cashier at a local supermarket. My employer keeps promising that he will increase our hourly rates to the minimum wage of R20, but he never does and we are all still working for R15 an hour. We are fed up with the situation but at the same cannot afford to lose our jobs. What can we do?

From our recent BEE verification I’ve come to understand that demographics have quite a role to play when it comes to your planning for a good BEE scorecard. However, I’m not quite sure exactly where it comes into play and how you need to plan for this. Can you shed some light on how I must consider demographics in our BEE planning?

We’re investigating a number of employees in our company over the last few months and identified serious transgressions warranting disciplinary action. We instructed human resources to issue disciplinary notices to the relevant employees, following receipt of which three of the employees resigned with immediate effect. Despite their resignations, can or should we still proceed with disciplinary action against these employees now that they have resigned?

We recently interviewed a software engineer for a position at our company. In the interview it came to light that the engineer had just left the employ of one of our main competitors and that he was bound by a restraint of trade in terms of his previous employment agreement with the company. We really want to appoint him because of his skills but are wary of the restraint. Is there any way around this?

Myself and other co-workers have not received any salary for the last three months. Our employer has informed us salaries will not be paid as a moratorium has been placed on the company because it is under business rescue. Surely our employment rights are being infringed. Can we not take the employer to the CCMA to force the employer to have to pay our salaries?

My employer is requiring me to work over weekends as part of my new manager responsibilities. Although I have no problem with working extra hours, the work often clashes with my religious observances over the weekend. I’ve discussed this with my employer, but my employer is threatening to take my manager position away if I don’t work continuously over the weekend. What can I do?

I have a young business that is developing well. But I need to appoint more staff. I’ve heard that there are tax incentives for employing youth. How do these work? 

I have an employee who posted very derogatory comments on Facebook about his manager, calling him lazy and stupid. I immediately arranged for a final written warning to be issued to the employee. However, the employee refuses to sign the warning and claims that he has been treated unfairly as he should have received a first warning before being given a final warning. Have we made a mistake in giving him a final warning?

I have a suspicion that one of my branch managers is busy stealing stock and cooking the books. The numbers just don’t add up. I want to suspend him to allow a full investigation to be done, but don’t want to give him a heads-up so he can hide evidence. Can I suspend him immediately without giving him a chance to provide reasons so I can ensure that he leaves the premises? Please advise.