Stuff Employers Should Know

Employers are being required to enter into POPI security agreements and make declarations regarding their POPI security status with third parties. Is this open for abuse?

Friend of the show, Attorney Samantha Walker, is back and takes us through the why? and how? of POPI security assessments assessments and questionnaires.

Listen to the Podcast on POPI and Recruitment Applications by Employers.

BGD is joined by Litigation Manager, Juan-André Mulder, and go through the process of defending a dispute at the CCMA or a Bargaining Council.

Related Episode: Getting a Case Dismissed at the CCMA
 

Overtime is only permitted to be worked by agreement, most employers do not know that there is legislation that may deem their overtime agreement to be invalid. 

In this episode BGD and Yas discuss the implementation of legitimate and enforceable overtime agreements by employers. 

Many employers are obligated to pay a Skills Development Levy to the South African Revenue Services most just see it as a compulsory payment of 1%  from their monthly payroll.

Employers don’t realise that they are able to claim a portion of this money back from their Sector Education Training Authority (SETA). There is a pool of funds available through Skills Development that they have access to and which is rightfully theirs.

BGD talks to Kyle Wesemann about the benefits of skills development and how employers, by complying with certain legal and procedural requirements, may claim up to 70% of the SDL back from their SETA.

Drop us a mail at sesk@labournet.com and we will get you in touch with Kyle and his team before the submissions deadline of 30 April 2022.

In terms of Government Gazette dated 8 February 2022 and with effect from 1 March 2022 employees whose annual ‘earnings’ equal or exceed R224,080.48,  equivalent to R18,673 per month, will be excluded from the application of various sections of Chapter Two of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA).

In this episode BGD explains what this means for employers and goes through the various applications of the BCEA 'earnings threshold'.

What happens when an employee falls ill while they are on annual leave? Does it convert to sick leave? BGD answers some common questions regarding an employee's entitlement to sick leave. 

In order to enforce the rules and regulations set by an employer, the employer may issue a series of sanctions intended on correcting an employee’s conduct. These range from verbal warnings, written warning, final written warning and ultimately summary dismissal of the employee. 

Should there be any dispute about the fairness of a dismissal or even in some instances the issuing of a sanction short of dismissal – the commission or council will assess fairness on substance and procedure. 

We focus on the procedural fairness of dismissals due to misconduct in this "How To" episode. 

Friend of the show, Attorney Samantha Walker, takes us through the intricacies of disciplining Company Directors who are also Employees or Shareholders of the same Company.  

BGD chats to Adri Louw about suspending an unvaccinated employee and a case where the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) had to decide whether the certificate of a traditional healer could be equated with a medical certificate for the purposes of sick leave. 

South Africa’s diverse cultural heritage is the spotlight in todays episode of Stuff Employers Should Know!

Case Law:
Kievits Kroon Country Estate (Pty) Ltd v Mmoledi and Others [2014] 35 ILJ 209 (SCA)
NUM & another v Samancor Ltd (Tubatse Ferrochrome) & others [2011] 11 BLLR 1041 (SCA) 

In a recent award the CCMA confirmed that a mandatory vaccination policy can be enforced by employers. But is it so simple? BGD chats to Health and Safety Executive, Duncan Carlise, about the implementation and application of mandatory vaccination policies. 

How do employers deal with "The Holiday Hangover", or more specifically, employees who fail to return to work or are deemed to have deserted their employment?

BGD (who is stuck in quarantine) discusses the key element required to deem an employee to have deserted their employment and what to do if the employee actually returns even after the employment relationship was terminated. 

Employee’s sharing their pay slips and other conditions of their employment with their fellow employee’s can cause much unhappiness and disruption in an employer’s workplace where discrepancies in earnings may exist. But can an employer take action against an employee for doing so? And is it a breach of confidentiality? 

It is an employers nightmare, the Sheriff of the court arrives at your place of business and starts writing up company assets against a writ of execution, on a judgement or award they never new existed or even happened. 

Attorney, Samantha Walker, joins us again to discuss what employers should know if this happens to them. 

Often employers require employees to be on standby and avail themselves at a moment’s notice. So… what is the deal with standby allowances? 

Attorney and Industrial Relations Specialist, Shameera Angamia, explains how standby allowances work and when they are required to be paid.  

The Protection of Personal Information Act (or POPI Act) is now part of South African business and employers are being bombarded daily with terrifying mixed messages of what
this means for their business and the consequences of non compliance. 

To help us dissect what employers really need to know about truly being POPI compliant, we are joined by the National
POPI and PAIA Manager and Attorney – Samantha Walker from LabourNet.

Having a case dismissed at the CCMA is cause for relief for the employers as responding parties. But does the case being dismissed by the CCMA mean the dispute has really gone away?

In this episode we discuss the recent Labour Court cases of Glencore Operations SA (Pty) Ltd v CCMA and Others (JR 1963/19) [2021],and Solomons v Phokela NO and Others (JR99/2021) [2021], where the Court provided new guidance on the dismissal of matters by commissioners and cover the directive issued by the CCMA to its commissioners as a result of these two cases. 

As we fast approach the holiday season many employers encourage employees to take their leave during this time or even choose to shut down their business during this time.  Should the employer decide to shut down their operations can they force employees to use their accrued leave entitlement during this time? 

The year-end office party has gained legendary status of being the epicenter of office debauchery and bad behavior. In this episode we discuss what employers should do in the run up to their year end party, or any office party, to prevent any possible HR nightmares.

Case law referenced:
Campbell Scientific Africa (Pty) Limited v Simmers and others [2015] JOL 34906 (LAC)

It's lockdown level one in South Africa, and with the country finally getting back to some sort of normality, employers are requesting employees to return to work. What does an employer do when an employee refuses to return? We speak to LabourNet's Industrial Relations Executive, Lauren Mostert, about lessons learnt from the past two years and the challenges of physically getting back into the office.