Lie on Your CV and You Could End Up Paying Your Salary Back
Lying to get a job can cost far more than the job itself. A former V&A Waterfront chief information officer was ordered to pay nearly R2.9 million in damages after the Labour Court found that she had misled the company into employing her and into paying for two consultants who had worked for her private business. Just over R1 million of the award represented her total remuneration. The rest covered the consultants’ fees.
Can Your Employer Cancel Your 13th Cheque?
A 13th cheque is not automatically guaranteed. But where it forms part of your employment contract, your employer cannot simply withdraw it or replace it with a performance-based bonus without your agreement. The Labour Court ordered an employer that had done so to pay 45 employees a 13th cheque for every year it had gone unpaid since 2021.
Bad Manager or Workplace Bully? Where the Law Draws the Line
Not every difficult manager is a workplace bully, and not every uncomfortable workplace is an unlawful one. But where exactly does the law draw the line?
A 2023 Labour Court judgment tackles that question head-on, with important lessons for both employers and employees. If you’ve ever wondered whether a harassment claim would succeed against your employer, or whether your management style exposes your business to legal risk, the answer may surprise you.
Effective 1 March 2026: New National Minimum Wage
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) for each “ordinary hour worked” has been increased from 1 March 2026 by 5% from R28,79 per hour to R30,23 per hour. Domestic workers: Assuming a work month of 22 days x 8 hours per day, R30,23 per hour equates to R241,84 per day or R5320,48 per month. Of course, […]
Workplace Sexual Harassment: It’s the Victim’s Perspective That Counts
“Sexual harassment is the most heinous conduct that plagues the workplace.” (Extract from the judgment below) Our courts have no tolerance for sexual harassment in the workplace, stressing that, at its core, it is concerned with power dynamics at work. A recent Labour Court decision has confirmed that in assessing whether or not an employee […]
Parental Leave: Out With the Old, in With the New
“Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare.” (Ed Asner, actor with a great sense of humour!) A game-changing judgment from our Constitutional Court sets out new rules for parental leave. The joy of becoming parents, and a father’s leave dilemma The birth of a couple’s first child presented them with both a bundle […]
As 1 December Looms, Here’s What AARTO Means for Motorists and Employers
“Forewarned is forearmed.” (Wise old proverb) Government keeps assuring us that the long-delayed AARTO (Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences) system will finally begin its full national rollout on 1 December 2025. Is this another false start or the real thing this time? There have been so many false starts to AARTO over the last […]
Honesty at Work: A 50c Coin Costs a Bank Teller Her Job
“There’s no trust, no faith, no honesty in men.” (William Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet) A recent Labour Court decision is a stark reminder to employees that an employment relationship is founded on trust, and that any breach of that trust could justify dismissal. Pocketing a 50c coin to balance her till The responsibilities of […]
What’s the Normal Retirement Age? It’s Complicated, as The Plumber’s Tale Proves
“When cognitive capacities are the focus, the 70s are the new 50s.” (IMF) Fake news articles suggesting that South Africa was implementing a new standard retirement age policy, supposedly from 30 May this year, recently went viral on social media. Convincingly structured to look realistic (AI’s dark hand there?), the articles suggested that 65 is […]
Restraint of Trade: Fatal Vagueness Means no Father Christmas to the Rescue
“The legal principles, as I understand them, do not confer on me the powers of Father Christmas. I cannot rescue the un-rescuable.” (Quoted in the judgment below) We all want loyal, competent staff who remain motivated to stay with us in the long term, but the reality is that a degree of employee churn is […]