M.Phil. (Labour Law and Employment Relations) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Reinstatement is one of the remedies for unfair dismissals. Dismissed employees have a recourse to approach the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration1 or labour courts to seek reinstatement. The arbitrator or the courts have a discretion to order reinstatement based on the facts of the case, sometimes retrospectively. Retrospectivity is a discretionary matter in the hands of the courts and therefore the courts of law have been inundated with cases where the employers wanted to limit the retrospectivity of the application of reinstatement as a remedy for unfair dismissals. On the other hand, the dismissed employees would want the court to extend the application. In other circumstances the court would award compensation instead of retrospective reinstatement like where reinstating the employee is just practically impossible or the employee himself does not want to be reinstated. The Labour Relations Act2 has limited the power or discretion of the employers to dismiss employees at will. Section 185 of the LRA provides that there should be fair and valid reason for dismissals. The employer would have to prove the reason for dismissal for it to be valid. On the other hand, the case law also has established that where there is unfair dismissal, the arbitrator or the court must give the primary remedy in favour of the employees which is to reinstate them in their work. Such reinstatement would have the effect as if the employee was never dismissed in the first place.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The overlap between misconduct and incapacity in case of intoxication and alcoholism remains a grey area. It is trite that an employee can be dismissed if under the influence of alcohol during working hours. On the other hand, the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal for conduct and incapacity in item (10) of schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 singles out alcoholism as a form of incapacity that may require counselling and rehabilitation. There is a thin line between cases in which intoxication can be treated as misconduct, and those cases in which alcoholism should be treated as incapacity. The purpose of this study is to critically analyse dismissal on the grounds of alcoholism and intoxication at the workplace.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has been mandated by the government of the day to render accessible, fair, speedy and cost effective administration of justice in the interest of a safer and more secure South Africa. The department then set service standards to be able to achieve its goals. Like other departments in the country, the department of Justice has officials who perform duties to ensure that service is delivered to people. These officials have to conduct themselves in an acceptable manner prescribed by the employer. Since the code of conduct has been developed to promote and maintain high standard of professional ethics throughout the public service, the code of conduct is mandatory if effective service delivery is to reach all South Africans. Public servants must ensure that their conduct conforms to the basic values and principles governing public administration. The research focused on how discipline is managed in Malamulele cluster magistrate’s courts, in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Qualitative research methodology was used. Results indicated that some structures and individuals know their roles and responsibilities in management of discipline, however the understanding is only to a certain extent. Managers have been made to believe that it is proper to attend only less serious misconducts and refer the serious ones to the labour relations section at the regional level. Recommendations were advanced on activities that need to be performed in order for discipline to be well managed.

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / The principle of the right to strike is internationally documented, as determined by the Committee on Freedom of Association. In South Africa, the right to strike is enshrined and protected in Section 23 of the country's Constitution under its Bill of Rights. Under specific circumstances, the Constitution allows for legislation to limit a right listed in Section 23. At the same time, the Constitution guarantees that everyone has the right to life and health care services. South African industrial action is regulated by the Labour Relations Act (LRA) No. 66 of 1995, as amended, which precludes workers who are employed in essential services from striking, because interruption of these services may endanger lives. However, the LRA also provides for the conclusion of a Minimum Service Agreement (MSA), where minimum services replace essential services. No MSA has been ratified since the LRA was promulgated in 1995. It is on this premise that the author investigated the mechanisms which have been put in place to create a balance between the right to strike and the need to provide essential services in the event of a strike. This study used a qualitative research design. Open-ended questionnaires were distributed to the target research sample. Purposive sampling was applied to a total of 30 participants who were selected from the Western Cape Department of Health's essential services. The qualitative data was analysed using theme identification to make sense of the findings. The research results reveal that employees who are providing essential services have the right to strike only if certain conditions are met. One of these conditions is the conclusion of a Minimum Service Agreement (MSA) to ensure a balance between the rights of health workers to strike and the rights of citizens to be provided with health care services. This agreement provides the duties and responsibilities of the employer and employees for the continuation of minimum services in the event of a public sector strike to ensure that service delivery is not interrupted. Specific recommendations are made by the researcher regarding the MSA, and measures are discussed to ensure that the minimum services within essential services remain operational in the event of a public sector strike.

This paper focused on how competing interests of employers and employees are accomodated in the South African Labour Relations arena. An analysis of the legislative framework was undertaken to establish how the legislation provides for changes in workplace practices as well as the protection that it affords employees against unwanted or unilateral changes. The main focus of the research was on how the South African Courts have interpreted the legislation and how it has applied the law in cases involving the changing of terms and conditions of employment, that has come before it.

The Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) was formulated by consensus from Government, Labour and Business. The advent of the new democratic dispensation brought with it the need to bring reforms to the country’s repressive labour laws, which were the hallmarks of the former apartheid regime. The new democratic dispensation’s priority was to ensure that the laws governing the employment relationship were again in line, with the International Labour Organization’s requirements (ILO). The consolidation of the country’s labour laws became critical for the new democratic dispensation because it became imperative that labour laws, once and for all became inclusive of all South Africa’s working force. During this post democratic period South Africa has been able to bring this consolidation to our regulatory framework through democratizing labour relations. This has meant that all organized workers for the first time after 1995, could have access to collective bargaining. South Africa has also enjoyed a period of relative labour stability during this period but only until recently, has the institution of collective bargaining been under the severest attack. This contestation in this labour regime is about the constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining. It has become of paramount importance to understand the meaning of this right to engage in collective bargaining, how far does this right extend to organized employees and most importantly what are now the impediments to the realization of this right? This is a broad and a very important topic in our labour law jurisprudence. The rationale for this treatise is to articulate the right to engage in collective bargaining, amid recent developments. At the same time to probe whether or not a justiciable duty to bargain in good faith (legally enforceable duty), should be reintroduced in our collective bargaining framework. This would be an option in reestablishing this institution in the face of insurmountable challenges, particularly as far as managing the conduct of bargaining parties during the collective bargaining process. The LRA does not envision such a legally enforceable duty to bargain in our labour relations framework, preferring rather apolicy based on voluntarism. The LRA has instead created a legally recognized framework were bargaining parties, determine their own collective process, without undue interference from the state and the courts. This has been the position since the inception of the new democratic order.Times have changed constitutional challenges have been mounting against provisions of the LRA, which have been deemed by some as unconstitutional. This is reference to the inaccessibility of the collective bargaining process; relating directly to the right to engage in collective bargaining.The disjuncture between the Constitution and the enabling legislation the LRA will also be scrutinized, as the result has been confusion regarding the meaning and the application of this constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining.

The Labour Relations Act, 1995 makes no provision of a legally enforceable duty to bargain, but affords certain rights to unions such as organisational rights. Although employers are obliged to grant these rights to representative unions, they are not compelled to engage in bargaining with them as there is no duty to negotiate. However, the refusal to bargain will result in power play in order to convince the other party to negotiate. If an employer refuses to negotiate with a union, the union is able to strike without any fear of dismissal of its members, provided that the strike takes place with requirements of the Act. The questions that need to be answered are amongst others whether the amendments on organisational rights will truly broaden access to section 14 and 16 rights of the Labour Relations Act? Further than that, to investigate whether these amendments will lead a decline in industrial action related to organisational rights. It also becomes imperative to find whether these arrangements will enable commissioners to carry out the mandate of minimizing the proliferation of trade unions. The study aims to provide understanding of the principles of collective bargaining in the workplace. This in turn promotes better understanding of the rights enshrined in section 23(5) of the Constitution which provides that trade unions, employers’ organisation and employers have the right to engage in collective bargaining. This right is given effect to the Labour Relations Act as amended. The law regarding collective bargaining in South Africa has been interpreted in two ways; the Labour Relations Act refers to a duty to bargain collectively, while the Constitution refers to a right to engage in collective bargaining. These two interpretations have been subjected to judicial criticism in three cases in the South African National Defence Force. They are currently the main cases dealing with this issue in South Africa. The implications that a trade union is entitled to embark on strike action in order to obtain organisational rights in circumstances where it is not regarded as sufficiently representative, provides some form of relief for minority unions. Against this background, the critical legal question is the impact of recent amendments to the Labour Relations Act within the context of collective bargaining.

The research problem in this study was to analyse how the new constitutional, legal and political arrangements have influenced public policy-making in the department of labour with specific reference to the Employment Equity Act. To achieve this objective a theory for analysing policy–making process was presented. Corporatist theory is based on the following assumptions: Public policy is shaped by interaction between the state and interest groups. The state licences behaviour of interested organizations by attributing public status to them Policy-making is based on interest groups bargaining across a broad range of issues. The groups are functionally interdependent to enhance social stability. The groups use consensus in making decisions. Decision-making is centralised, it is done by leaders. The groups are bureaucratic in organization. The groups must be recorgnised by the state so that they can be allowed representation. The research questions that arise are: (1) Who sets the agenda for policy formulation? (2) How is the policy formulated? (3) how are the decisions taken? (4) How is the policy implemented? (5) How is the policy monitored? The objective of this study analyse how constitutional, legal and political changes have influenced public policy formulation in the Department of Labour with specific reference to the Employment Equity Act. Policy–making processes in the South African arena and factors that led to the promulgation of Employment Equity Act were discussed. This study was a qualitative design. Purposive sampling was used in the selection of five participants who were interviewed. All interviews were transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed as described by Rubin and Rubin (1995:260) The result negated some of the assumptions of corporatist theory and others concurred with the theory. The findings of the study revealed that policy formulation in the Department of Labour is as a result of constitutional, and international conventions obligations. The findings further revealed that policy-information is institutionalised and there are competing interests due to divergent ideological orientations, different social backgrounds; racial differences; different; political beliefs; different class background; different historical backgrounds, and gender differences. (v) The formulation of the act was also characterised by advocacy, adversarism, stereotyping, alliances and consensus. These organisations. were bureaucratic and decisions were centralised. This study recommended a theory and the theory postulates that “public policy is the product of the social, economic, political, cultural, technolergical, and natural conditions of a given society in a particular epoch or period in the historical development of the particular nation or society and is influenced by dominant national and international forces and these influences may be cultural, economically, social, politically, technological, and type and system of government.

South Africa’s Constitution and the Employment Equity Act have a major impact on the performance of medical examinations within the employment relationship. Health and safety statutes list a number of occupational medical examinations, which an employer must perform. Other legislation permits the execution of medical examinations. After listing the different statutory references to occupational medical examinations, this treatise examines under which conditions medical testing is required or permissible. The fairness of employment discrimination based on medical facts, employment conditions, social policy, distribution of employee benefits and inherent job requirement is analysed through a study of the legal texts, experts’ opinions and case studies. The particularities of the ethical and legal duties of the medical professional, performing the occupational medical examination, are also examined. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of the different forms of occupational medical examinations is compiled by combining legal and policy-related job requirements and is attached as an annexure. This is the practical result of the research in this treatise combined with the personal experience of the author.