This dissertation is a journey through the legislative changes and case law in order to analyse and evaluate the changing nature of South African jurisprudence in respect of the notions of equality, discrimination and affirmative action and the manner in which these issues are proved and dealt with in our courts. It focuses firstly on the emergence of the post-Wiehahn labour laws and the developing jurisprudence concerning discrimination in South Africa towards the end of a long period of isolation from the international world. It witnesses the growing cognizance which was taken of international guidelines and their slow and gradual incorporation into our jurisprudence before the institution of the new democratic government, in the days when the country was still firmly in the grip of a regime which prided itself on its discriminatory laws. It also deals in some depth with the new laws enacted after the first democratic government was installed, especially in so far as the Constitution was concerned. The first clutch of cases dealing with discrimination which were delivered by the Constitutional Court and their effects on decisions of the labour courts thereafter, are dealt with in great detail, indicating how important those judgments were and still are ten years later. A special chapter is devoted to the Harksen case, still a leading authority on how to deal with allegations of unfair discrimination. Having traversed several of the judgments of the labour courts after Harksen, several observations are made in the conclusion of the study which, it is hoped, summarize the major areas of concern in respect of the task of testing claims of unfair discrimination arising in our Courts.

Sexual harassment is an ever increasing drain on the resources of the modern employer, as well as serving to take up much time in terms of legal battles and court cases. The concept of sexual harassment has undergone much revision over the past decades, and South Africa is now firmly committed to the eradication of this problem. The Constitution protects and enshrines important rights like dignity, equality and the right to fair labour practices. These are further defined and protected through the application of various statutes, including the LRA, EEA, PEPUDA and the revised Code of Good Practice. In terms of statutory liability, the employer will be liable for the harassment of its employees, unless it takes a proactive stance and implements comprehensive sexual harassment policies. In this way it will escape liability. The common law vicarious liability of the employer cannot be escaped as easily. The entire concept of the law of delict is to remedy harm suffered. In terms of the common law, employers will be held vicariously liable for the harassment of their employees if it can be shown that the harassment occurred within a valid working relationship, if the harassment actually occurred through a delict, and if the act occurred within the course and scope of employment. The best way for employers to minimize their liability for sexual harassment is the implementation of training and educational policies that serve to make employees aware of what is permissible in the workplace. This will aid the employer in showing that it has done everything possible to reduce the risk of harassment, which will in turn serve to reduce the employer’s liability. To protect against the risk of expensive litigation, many employers are now investigating the matter of liability insurance – they would rather pay increased premiums than suffer alone when their employees take legal action against them. Sexual harassment is a problem that can only be solved through a concerted effort on the part of the legislature, judiciary, employers and employees. Together, these parties must ensure that all of those involved in the world of work are aware of the problem of harassment, as well as taking steps to educate and train employees so as to prevent it. Only in this way will we be able to take action to reduce this terrible problem in our country.

The aim of this paper is to discover if women are still discriminated against, given fair and equal opportunities as men in the construction industry in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. This paper will also provide recommendations and possible solutions to the problem of discrimination. It will look at the policies government developed to ensure equality and women empowerment in the industry.

At the outset of this treatise the development of the unfair labour practice is traced. The point is made that common law knows nothing about fairness and it is pointed out that the concept was introduced as a statutory concept in 1979. In 1995 the development of unfair labour practices since 1979 was relied upon to provide a list of unfair labour practices. The main thrust of the treatise concerns an evaluation of an unfair labour practice relating to benefits – listed presently in section 186(2) of the Labour Relations Act. Reference is made to Industrial Court cases and case law since 1996 is considered and commented upon. In particular, the issue of remuneration not being a benefit, and the fact that interest disputes are not justiciable as unfair labour practices for instance are canvassed.

Sexual harassment has been in existence for a long time in the workplace without any attempt to understand, define and effectively combat this rather undesirable and serious form of misconduct. Until fairly recently, the growing problem of sexual harassment and its damaging effect have been given much attention by legal authorities and society at large. The effect of sexual harassment is that it embarrasses or humiliates the victim. The victim may also suffer from trauma which, in turn, affects his/her performance at work. Numerous definitions have been provided on what constitutes sexual harassment. Sexual harassment takes place when a women‟s sexual role overshadows her work role in the eyes of the male, whether it be a supervisor, co-worker, client or customer. In other words, her gender receives more attention than her work. Sexual harassment is also seen as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates the rights of an employee and constitutes a barrier to equity in the workplace.1 The Bill of Rights in the Constitution2 entrenches the rights of everyone. Worth mentioning are the “right to equality”, “the right to dignity”, “the right to privacy” and “the right to fair labour practices”. Furthermore, section 6(3) of the Employment Equity Act3 states that “harassment is a form of unfair discrimination” which is prohibited in terms of section 6(1) of the same Act. Section 60 of the Employment Equity Act deals with statutory vicarious liability where the employer is held liable for his acts and/or omission to take measures to against sexual harassment or a failure to put a grievance procedure in place. Where such an employer has done what is reasonably necessary to prevent and to address sexual harassment, he/she will escape liability for the misconduct of the employee. This section also provides for mechanisms that an employer may employ to minimise liability where harassment has taken place. In addition to statutory vicarious liability is the common law vicarious liability, where the employer is vicariously liable for the delict of the employee. This form of liability is also referred to as “no-fault liability”. The employer will be held liable where the following requirements for vicarious liability in common law are met: firstly, there must be an “employer-employee relationship”, secondly, a “delict must be committed” and thirdly, the “employee must have been acting in the scope or course of employment when the delict was committed”. Liability can also be directly imputed on the employer. In this instance, it has to be proven that “the employer committed an act or omission; the act or omission was unlawful; the act or omission was culpable, intentional or negligent, and a third party suffered harm; either patrimonial damage or injury to personality; and the act or omission caused that harm”.

With the advent of democracy in South Africa in the early 1990s, the new government had to introduce major social, economic and political changes in order to undo the damages inflicted by many years of both colonialism and apartheid. These changes included the scrapping of discriminatory legislations and drafting of new laws to regulate employment practices. Amongst the pieces of legislation that the new South African government put in place, the Employment Equity Act, (Act 55 of 1998) was a major turning point in the elimination of discrimination at the workplace and redressing the injustices of the previous regimes. The Act is aimed at regulating the employment practices in an attempt to make the workplace a true reflection of the South African demographics. As a result, the promulgation of the Act had a major impact on the organisations in South Africa and has affected the way they now do business. Although the Act has been in existence for 14 years, progress in the implementation of employment equity and affirmative action in organisations in South Africa has been far less significant, particularly in the representation of women in managerial positions. In South Africa, an overwhelming majority of managerial positions are still occupied by men, with marginal women occupying management positions. Thus, women are still experiencing discrimination and under-representation at the workplace. Noting this trend at Amatola Water Board, the researcher decided to investigate the extent of progress the organisation has achieved in the implementation of its Employment Equity Plan 2009-2014. The objectives of the study were to identify factors that could assist the organisation to effectively implement the Plan, identify the impediments that pose challenges to effective implementation of the Plan in the organisation, and establish the perceptions of employees on the implementation of the Plan in the organisation. To collect data for the study, the researcher used a qualitative research approach. In this regard, the researcher used questionnaires and interviews to collect qualitative data. A sample of fifty employees was selected for the administration of questionnaires and four additional employees were selected for interviews. Both samples were selected by purposive sampling. The study has established that employment equity is still a challenge that South African organisations are struggling to implement. The study has revealed that, at Amatola Water Board, there are indeed various factors that contribute to the low representation of women in managerial positions. These factors include the lack of management support for the implementation of the Employment Equity Plan, recruitment processes that fail to recruit sufficient numbers of qualified applicants, training and development practices that fail to produce the required number of qualified employees, unconducive organisational culture, veiled racial and gender stereotypes, and inadequate communication. Suggestions and recommendations to address these challenges have been espoused.

As a country, South Africa has undergone major social and political changes, specifically over the past two decades. Along with these changes, new legislation such as the scrapping of the Group Areas Act, changed the face of residential areas to one where suburbs now reflect the demographics of the country. Inevitably, changes in the business world also came about, one significant change being the promulgation of the Employment Equity Act (No.55 of 1998) which regulates employment practices in an attempt to make the workforce a true reflection of the South African population. The change in labour legislation came at a time when the effects of globalisation increased levels of competition amongst organisations. Understandably, certain business leaders raised concerns that the introduction of the Employment Equity Act could lead to a lowering of standards and therefore competitive advantage. The purpose of this research was to establish if these early concerns were indeed valid and if the implementation of this legislation had any negative impact on Telkom SA Limited (Telkom), the organisation selected for this study. Particular attention was paid to investigate the impact of the implementation of the Act on three critical areas of business, namely: Productivity; Profitability; and Customer satisfaction. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the following approach was followed: Firstly, a comprehensive literature study was conducted to determine what led to the passing of this legislation and to establish what the literature revealed about the advantages and challenges of a diverse workforce; Secondly, the views of Telkom management in the Eastern Cape on the impact of the implementation of employment equity were obtained by means of an empirical study which involved the completion of a comprehensive questionnaire; and Lastly, the responses to the questionnaire were collated and analysed to determine the extent to which Telkom had implemented the legislation, and if the company had experienced any negative effects due to this implementation.

The study was premised on the truism that men have historically served in higher echelons of organizational management structures and women are under-represented. The principal objective was to explore the constraints faced by women in accessing higher leadership and senior management positions in public, private and non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe. This study adopted the triangulation method, that is, qualitative and quantitative approaches. These mixed research methods, were upgraded by the feminist research methodologies, thereby making a contribution in the field of research. The study found out that the constraints that mostly hinder women from accessing leadership and senior management positions in public, private and NGOs were cultural practices, which represent levels of power and control that in turn hinder reforms; and women's socialisation into feminised roles. The study also found out that in most organisations, most females work under male leadership, and this traditional organisational culture, needs to be deconstructed and reversed in order to achieve gender equality. The study recommended for a human centric and integrated organizational management strategy for public, private and NGOs in Zimbabwe. The adoption of a human centric and integrated management approach should aim at gender equity and reduce women's under-representation. A human centred organizational culture has to be practiced, that would create organisational ethos that guide organizational management. An integrated organizational management approach should integrate all systems and processes into one complete framework, enabling people to work as a single unit, unified by organizational goals, shared vision and common values. The system should depend on a balanced mix of the masculine and feminine attributes. The approach should put its weight towards adoption of measures to attract, advance and empower women so as to benefit from their qualifications, experience and talent in a highly competitive environment.

This research was undertaken to investigate the challenges faced by employees at the Home Affairs Department, the transport Department and the Department of Education at King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape Province. A quantitative approach was used in this research. The sample consisted of 100 respondents of whom 98 returned completed questionnaires. The answers of the respondents were the data of this study and these were analyzed and interpreted in respect of the hypotheses of the research. The research involved the collection of detailed career, personal and structural perceptions of 98 employees. The data was used to establish the disparity among employees, from lower management to top management. It was found that even though there was a problem of discrimination in the olden days there has been a change in the sense that employment equity, affirmative action and diversity management have been introduced since 1994.

Demographic changes have facilitated longer, healthier lives, and legislative changes have encouraged extended working lives through the increasing of state pension age, equalisation of state pensions, and the removal of the default retirement age. Recent age discrimination legislation has begun to combat age discrimination within the employment context of the UK. Legal precedent has also been established during the course of this research through case law, as a result of high profile age discrimination cases reaching the Supreme Court. Through several interview studies, this thesis explores the experiences, views and attitudes of employees, employers, job seekers and retired individuals. Utilising focus groups, this thesis also presents data from a range of charity representatives, human resources professionals, line managers, employment advisors, health and safety practitioners, and trade union representatives in order to explore the influence of changes in later life working policy and practice. The research of this thesis also includes a consultation exercise to engage the potential users of the research and develops a policy and practice framework providing recommendations which could lead to better outcomes and improved opportunities for older workers. Finally, a series of video case studies presents the research findings in an accessible visual format. This varied use of communication methods was specifically selected in order to increase the impact of the research and potential user audience. Research findings highlighted that managing age diversity was perceived as essential for employee motivation and organisational competitiveness. In particular, interviewees from generationally diverse workforces also reported a more positive attitude to age. Evidence from this thesis presents direct examples of age discrimination limiting the employment opportunities of older workers. Potential victims of age discrimination often struggle to gather evidence to support their perception that they may have been mistreated due to their age. Especially for job seekers, the perception of age discrimination presents a significant barrier to confidence, motivation, and opportunities during the employment search. These concerns are also exacerbated by the most widely reported barrier to securing employment for older jobseekers which was insufficient feedback. While a small minority of employers discussed discriminatory practices, the majority were positive towards age diversity and embraced the benefits of older workers. Responsibility for retirement transitions and performance management as older employees reach the end of their careers were issues employers reported struggling with in light of the removal of the default retirement age. The findings of this thesis highlight the importance of challenging age stereotypes and embracing the opportunities that a multi-generational workforce offers in order to increase equality of opportunity and promote age positive organisational culture. All parts of society have a shared responsibility to change attitudes towards older workers, and offer workers of all ages the equality they deserve.