Ask a labour & employment practitioner

Ask a labour & employment practitioner LLB, LLM, SABPP registered CHRP-ER, 13+ yrs exp. All your employment questions will be answered.

15/01/2025

Interception is acquiring information using any means to make such communication available to another person who was not party to. Interception and evidence acquired thereto will be allowed (1) if you are a party to the communication either as a sender or receiver of the information, (2) if one of the parties to the communication has given consent to be recorded or (3) if the interception is done for business purpose (here the parties have to be made aware that recording is in place. Employees are made aware in the contract of employment, while the public are made aware by video camera signs, like camera surveillance or smile you are on camera, etc.)

13/01/2025

Surveillance in the workplace is regulated by the Regulation of Interception of Communication & Provision of Communication-Related Information Act 70 of 2002 (RICA). It is alright to record conversation where you are a party to and you don't even need to inform the other participants that they are being recorded. A recording where you were not a party to will generally be inadmissible as evidence. Of course there are exceptions...

23/10/2024

If the shift worked falls on a Sunday & another day (Nightshift), what will determine if it's a Sunday/ Public Holiday shift or normal shift is the majority of hours worked, whether they fall on that Sunday/ Public Holiday or on the ordinary day. E.g Sunday evening shift 20:00 to Monday morning 06:00 = ordinary shift. Saturday evening 20:00 to Sunday morning 06:00 = Sunday shift.

11/10/2024

If the employee works less than his ordinary shift & the payment he will be entitled to would be less than his ordinary daily wage, the employer must nevertheless pay him his ordinary daily wage. E.g. if you work for 3 hours overtime, at double the rate the employee will be paid for 6 hours worth, which is less than 8 hours. Therefore instead of being paid the 6 hours, the law says he is entitled to ordinary daily wage of 8 hours.

01/10/2024

PAY FOR SUNDAY WORK
Sunday work calls for either 1½ daily rate for employees who ordinarily work on a Sunday (shift workers) or double daily rate for employees who do not ordinarily work on a Sunday. Either way, an agreement can be entered into to pay ordinary rate + paid time off.
Nice employers out there just pay double rate for Sunday work, regardless.

10/09/2024

In as much as forced labour is prohibited, an employee cannot unreasonably refuse to work overtime without facing the risk of being declared, incompatible or redundant. After all a contract of employment is nothing but an agreement where the employee pledges to render his/her services at the DISPOSAL of the employer.

Secondly, an employee cannot refuse to work overtime if the work which is requested to be done must be done without delay owing to circumstances for which the employer couldn't reasonably have for seen and expected to make provision for.

21/08/2024

An agreement to work overtime concluded at the commencement of employment or within the first 3 months, (employment contract included) lapses after 1 year.
Then after, a new agreement to work overtime must be entered into.
Q: what happens when a new agreement is not entered into or where the employee refuses then after to work overtime?

20/08/2024

Not all overtime worked is payable in cash:
Normally, overtime is paid at least one & half times the employee's rate. It is however allowed to enter into an agreement to either pay the employee not less than the employee's ordinary wage for overtime worked & in addition, grant the employee at least 30 minutes paid time off for every hour of overtime worked. Another option is to grant the employee at least 90 minutes paid time off for each hour of overtime worked. Such time off must be given within 1 month of the employee becoming entitled to it. The 1 month period maybe increase by agreement to a maximum of 12 months.

19/08/2024

Overtime (not Sunday or public holiday)
An employer may not require or permit an employee:
to work overtime except in accordance with an agreement;
to work more than 3 hours overtime a day or 10 hours overtime a week.

08/08/2024

The employee must be transferred to suitable day work within a reasonable time if the employee suffers from a health condition associated with the performance of night work & if it is practicable for the employer to do so.

07/08/2024

The employee has a right to undergo a medical examination at the account of the employer, concerning those hazards, before employee starts, or within a reasonable period of starting, & at appropriate intervals while the employee continues to perform such work.

05/08/2024

An employee must be informed of any health & safety hazards associated with the work that the employee is required to perform between 23:00 - 06:00.

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