The Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates public companies to establish internal control systems and assess their effectiveness. Quarterly reports by all companies and annual reports by companies with less than $75 million public float (non-accelerated filers) do not require auditor’s attestation while annual reports by companies with $75 million or more public float (accelerated filers) do require such auditor attestations. Quarterly reports should provide early warning of any impending material weakness (MW) to be disclosed in subsequent annual filings. This dissertation explores three types of “surprise” MW disclosures—positive, negative and no surprise—and consequences of such surprise disclosures. In part one, I document the frequency of surprise MW disclosures and internal control factors that are associated with each surprise type by filer status. Results show that 78 (77) percent of accelerated (non-accelerated) MW disclosures are negative surprise MW disclosures during 2004-2016. Entity level MWs are more associated with no-surprise rather than negative or positive surprise MW disclosures. In part two, I examine some consequences of surprise MW disclosures. The results show that companies with MW disclosures are more likely to dismiss their auditors and CFOs, and experience more shareholder voting against auditor ratification, compared to companies that issue clean reports. Auditor dismissal and CFO turnover are equally likely at negative and no-surprise MW disclosure companies. However, negative surprise accelerated filer companies’ shareholders are more likely to vote against auditor ratification than no-surprise accelerated filer companies. The third essay investigates the association between MW disclosures and audit fees. The results indicate that there is a significant positive association between audit fees and MW disclosures. Further, the results show that audit fees are higher at no-surprise companies than at negative surprise companies. The fourth essay focuses on audit report lag. The results indicate that MWs are associated with increased audit report lags, for both accelerated and non-accelerated filers. Further, surprise MW firms are more likely to experience increased audit report lag than no-surprise MW firms. Overall the results suggest that adverse internal control reports have consequences, and that the consequences vary between surprise and no-surprise MW firms. The results provide relevant empirical evidence to the ongoing debate on the necessity and efficacy of SOX Section 404 requirements.

This research was aimed at investigating the management of teacher attrition in Sekgosese East Circuit. Teacher attrition is an on-going problem experienced by various countries, including South Africa. Although teacher attrition was always part of the departmental policy of age retirement, schools suffer as a result of it. In this study, ‘attrition’ refers to the number of teachers leaving the profession due to resignation, retirement, death, medical incapacity and retrenchment for operational reasons. Teacher attrition is regarded as a voluntary, involuntary and a continuous phenomenon. The current study focused on answering questions based on the nature of teacher attrition, the causes of attrition, the effects of attrition on learners, staying teachers and management, how attrition was managed by principals as well as the statutory bodies that may be involved in retaining teachers. The study used the qualitative method to investigate the management of teacher attrition in schools. The qualitative method was selected because it deals with participants in their natural setting, which was exactly what was done in this study. Both convenient and snowball sampling were used to sample six principals in the area under study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from the participants in their natural setting. The interviews were recorded and later transcribed, analysed and categorised into themes. The findings revealed that teacher attrition in Sekgosese East Circuit occurs in the form of death, retirement and resignation. Teachers resign due to a number of reasons. It was found that resignation occurred as a result of the low salaries they are paid, loans which accumulated into more debts and because teachers seek greener pastures. The findings revealed that attrition was detrimental to learners’ performance. In schools that were affected by teacher attrition, learners spent three to four months without a teacher due to the slow pace of the Department of Education in replacing teachers. Principals revealed that they liaise with the Department of Education for replacement of teachers. Principals also revealed that attrition is not good for them as school managers. They rely on sourcing teachers from elsewhere and overloading remaining teachers who even have to teach those subjects in which they did not specialise. The recommendation was that the Department of Education speed up the replacement of teachers by introducing on-line application for resignation or retirement so that the two processes may run concurrently. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Education Management)

<p>Disability in South African labour law is reduced to incapacity. An evaluation of disability and incapacity was made to advocate a clear conceptual break between the two concepts. Also, that disability should be grounded in a social model paradigm of disability which was a materialist critique of how capitalism constructs disability. To enhance the analysis discourse analysis was employed to illustrate how language, ideology and power sustained the notion of disability in capitalist society. A comparative analysis was made drawing on American disability jurisprudence and Canadian disability jurisprudence to illustrate the difference in approach between the two legal systems with a suggestion that the Canadian approach was better suited to the development of a South African disability law. And the development of South African disability law it was argued would benefit if a legal construction of disability was crafted to deal with the obstacles that disabled people encounter in the work-place.</p>

<p>Disability in South African labour law is reduced to incapacity. An evaluation of disability and incapacity was made to advocate a clear conceptual break between the two concepts. Also, that disability should be grounded in a social model paradigm of disability which was a materialist critique of how capitalism constructs disability. To enhance the analysis discourse analysis was employed to illustrate how language, ideology and power sustained the notion of disability in capitalist society. A comparative analysis was made drawing on American disability jurisprudence and Canadian disability jurisprudence to illustrate the difference in approach between the two legal systems with a suggestion that the Canadian approach was better suited to the development of a South African disability law. And the development of South African disability law it was argued would benefit if a legal construction of disability was crafted to deal with the obstacles that disabled people encounter in the work-place.</p>

No abstract available / Jurisprudence / LL.M.

The focus of this study was to investigate the employment difficulties faced by individuals who had been retrenched from the insurance industry during the years 2000 to 2013 in order to develop an understanding of the continuity in the specialist type of work after their retrenchment. The study also aimed to investigate the actual and perceived barriers that need to be addressed in the South African small business environment and the specific soft skills and business skills of small business owners and non-small business owners. The research design of this exploratory study entailed a positivist research philosophy using a deductive research approach. This quantitative research was conducted by means of a survey questionnaire. A questionnaire was designed and used to determine the level of importance and the level of own skills for small business owners and non-small business owners respectively in terms of predetermined soft and business management skills. The answers provided on these questions were then analysed to determine whether there was a gap between the level of importance assigned to these skills and their own skill ratings. This research determined the barriers faced by small businesses in South Africa as well as the level of agreement regarding the predetermined actual and perceived barriers pertaining to the small business environment. Notable findings of this study include that there was a distinct lack of continuity in the specialist type of work by the small business owner respondents in the insurance industry. There was a marked difference between the level of portance and own skill ratings assigned to the predetermined soft skills and business management skills with non-small business owner respondents mostly rating themselves as better skilled than small business owners did. However, the fact that these non-small business owner respondents did not start their own small businesses points towards higher risk aversion. This study also found that small businesses in South Africa are facing pronounced barriers within the small business environment. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

The Labour Relations Act contains a definition of a strike which reads as follows: “’strike’ means the partial or complete concerted refusal to work, or the retardation or obstruction of work, by persons who are or have been employed by the same employer or by different employers, for the purpose of remedying a grievance or resolving a dispute in respect of any matter of mutual interest between employer and employee, and every reference to ‘work’ in this definition includes overtime work, whether it is voluntary or compulsory.” The Labour Relations Act offers strikers special protection against dismissal if they conform with the Act and its provisions. Hence the distinction between those strikes and protest action in compliance with the Act, namely ‘protected’ strikes and protest action, and those strikes and protest action in violation of the Act, namely, ‘unprotected’ strikes and protest action. Participation in an unprotected strike is one form of misbehaviour. The Labour Relations Act expressly prohibits the dismissal of employees engaged in a lawful strike. Employees engaged in strike action contrary to the provisions of the Labour Relations Act may be dismissed since their strike action is deemed to be a form of misconduct. The dismissal of striking employees must be both substantially and procedurally fair.

The Department of Education, as part of the public sector, employs educators in terms of the Employment of Educators Act (EEA),1 whereas the rest of the public servants are employed in terms of the Public Service Act (PSA). If an educator is absent for more than 14 consecutive days without the permission of the employer, the educator is deemed to be discharged according to section 14(1)(a). With regard to the rest of the public sector, a similar provision is put in place, where section 17(5)(a) provides for the discharge of a public officer who is absent from his / her duties without the permission of the Head of Department for a calendar month (31 days). Sometimes long absent periods are caused by personal circumstances of the employee which are unforeseen. If the employee reports for duty after the dismissal, section 14(2) of the EEA provides that, the employee may be reinstated by the employer on good cause shown, after a post-dismissal hearing. If an employee in the public sector is discharged based on these deeming provisions, the employment is terminated by the operation of the law and there is no dismissal. This means that the employer is not responsible for the termination, meaning than there exists no option to review the dismissal. The supreme law of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) is the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (the Constitution).5 The question at hand is whether the deeming provision of section 14 of the EEA6 is constitutional. The Labour Relations Act (LRA) goes further by stipulating that every person has the right not to be unfairly dismissed, and not to be subjected to unfair labour practice.7 Section 23 of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to fair labour practices. Furthermore, section 33 of the Constitution provides for fair administrative action. The question is whether these provisions, dealing with the dismissal of educators, limit the employee’s constitutional right to a fair labour practice.

Magister Legum - LLM / Disability in South African labour law is reduced to incapacity. An evaluation of disability and incapacity was made to advocate a clear conceptual break between the two concepts. Also, that disability should be grounded in a social model paradigm of disability which was a materialist critique of how capitalism constructs disability. To enhance the analysis discourse analysis was employed to illustrate how language, ideology and power sustained the notion of disability in capitalist society. A comparative analysis was made drawing on American disability jurisprudence and Canadian disability jurisprudence to illustrate the difference in approach between the two legal systems with a suggestion that the Canadian approach was better suited to the development of a South African disability law. And the development of South African disability law it was argued would benefit if a legal construction of disability was crafted to deal with the obstacles that disabled people encounter in the work-place. / South Africa

Common law does recognise the concept of dismissal based on operational requirements. It recognises dismissals that are based on breach of expressed or implied terms of contract of employment. The concept of operational requirements has its roots in the Labour Relations Act 28 of 1956. This Act recognised termination of employment of a number of employees due to ability, capacity, productivity, conduct and operational requirements and needs of undertaking industry trade or occupation of the employer as legitimate. Under the 1956 LRA, employers were allowed to dismiss employees if employees refused to accept the proposed change to conditions of employment. The dismissal is called lock-out dismissal. This kind of dismissal entitled employers to dismiss employees on condition that the dismissal was temporary and the workers would be re-employed when they agree to the demands of the employer. After the contract of employment was terminated between the employer and employees, the employer was allowed to implement the changes using scab labour. The 1995 Labour Relations Act introduced section 187(1)(c) that was intended to re-enforce the abolishing of the lock-out dismissal. This section strictly forbids the dismissal of employees in order to compel them to accept demands of the employer in matters of mutual interest. Such dismissals are regarded as automatically unfair. In terms of section 64(4) of the 1995 LRA employers are not permitted to unilaterally effect changes to employees’ terms and conditions of employment. They are required to seek and obtain consent of the affected employees. If employees refuse to accept the proposed changes, the employer can use lock-out as defence. Firstly, the employer can initiate lock-out until employees accede to its demand. Secondly, the employer can lock-out employees in response to the notice of strike or strike of the employees. The employer can use scab labour during this lock-out period. Unlike the lock-out dismissal, lock-out under the 1995 LRA does not include termination of contract of employment. iv In contrast, employers are allowed to dismiss employees who refuse to agree to change to their terms and conditions of employment on the ground of operational requirements provided a fair procedure is followed. This reason for dismissal is not viewed by the courts as a dismissal to induce employees to accept the demand of the employer. The question that this study seeks to examine is the relationship between automatic unfair dismissal in terms of section 187(1)(c) of the Labour Relations Act and dismissal for operational requirements. A dispute between the employer and employees regarding change to terms and conditions of employment is a mutual interest dispute; and it therefore falls under collective bargaining. The same dispute can easily fall to rights dispute, because the reason for the proposed change to the production system and demand to the pursuit of improved efficiency and better achievement of profit objective related to operational requirement. There is obvious overlap between operational requirements and wage work bargaining. In Schoeman v Samsung Electronics, the court held that the employer is entitled to run its business in a prosperous way and this may entail affecting changes to terms and conditions of employment when the market forces demand so. In Mwasa v Independent Newspapers, the court held that change to terms and conditions of service of an employee can be proposed as a way to avoid retrenchment; dismissal of employees for refusing to accept the change is not covered by section 187(1)(c). In Fry’s Metals v Numsa, the court has rejected the notion that there is tension between section 187(1)(c) and section 188(1)(a)(ii). The court held that section 186(1) refers to dismissal or termination of workforce with the intention to end the employment contract and replacing the workforce with employees that are prepared to accept terms and conditions of employment that suit the employer’s operational requirements. The court argued further that the meaning of dismissal should be a v starting point when one wants to dispute the two sections. On the other hand, section 187(1)(c) was effected with a certain purpose, which is to prohibit the employer from dismissing employees in order to compel them to accept its demand in dispute of mutual interest. The court held that the dismissal in this case was final. The employer dismissed its employees because it did not need them anymore. This dismissal is in accordance with section 186(1). The court rejected that operational requirements is confirmed to saving business from bankruptcy. The court argued that the principle includes measures calculated to increase efficiency and profitability. The employer can dismiss and make more profit.