The main premise of this treatise is to discuss the Mauritian Law of Procedural Fairness within the context of Dismissal for Misconduct: A comparative study with the South African Doctrine of unfair Labour Practice. It analyses in detail the types of misconduct that eventually leads to the dismissal of an employee. The dismissal has not only to be substantively fair but also procedurally fair. To support the views expressed in the research, reference has been made to labour law cases decided mainly in Mauritius and South Africa. There are, however, references to other jurisdictions such as India, England, Australia, Namibia. The major constraint that the researcher encountered was the unavailability of decided cases referred from the Industrial Court of Mauritius. Most of the cases referred to in the Mauritian context are the Supreme Court decisions on dismissals due to misconduct. Thus for lack of relevant cases in Mauritius, there is a heavy reliance on cases decided in South Africa and other jurisdictions. These references have constructively enhanced the legal dimension of the topic under discussion. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Durban-Westville, Durban, 2001.

Work plays a dominant role in modern society. It is through work that the economic well being of any society is sustained. Workers who perform various tasks contribute to the well being of society as well as to their betterment as individuals. Thus paid employment has assumed a prominent role in modern society. It is an incentive on individuals to contribute to socio-economic welfare, while their needs and aspirations as individuals are also satisfied. But for an orderly society to exist, there has to be a subjection of some members of society by others, a division between those who have the social mandate (express or tacit) to exercise power for and on behalf of others. Thus work relations comprise those who exercise managerial power(employers) and those subject to managerial power (employees). In broader political relations, the task of social management is performed by the state. However those exercising managerial functions do not have unfettered discretion. Power should be exercised within acceptable social limits and be used to achieve realistic social goals. Thus it has been felt that the laws should always ensure that the incumbents of governmental power do not exceed the scope of their power or abuse it. Hence the process of judicial review. This gives the courts the power to review the decisions of administrative authorities in order to protect individual citizens who might be adversely affected by bad administrative decisions. This analogy has been applied in employment relations in order to protect individual employees against arbitrary dismissal by employers. It has been held that an employee cannot be dismissed without a valid reason and in compliance with a fair procedure. The question asked here is whether this is sufficient to ensure substantive employment protection. Is judicial review really effective in employment relations? It is observed that judicial review in labour law has many limitations as compared to the administrative law context. First, it comes face to face with the problem of the public/private law distinction, which holds the employment relationship to be fundamentally a private relationship between the employer and employee. This complicates the application of public law remedies in supposedly private relations, where the parties are assumed to have freedom of contract. The second problem involves the debate as to whether the state should impose many restrictions on the modern corporation or there should be minimal state intervention to allow the corporation to function in accordance with the labour market demands and economic necessity. It is concluded that the law of unfair dismissal has consequently been put in a dilemma. While the need has been perceived to curb the arbitrary use of managerial power by employers, substantive employment protection can hardly be guaranteed. The problem seems to be that of striking the balance between the interests of employees, employers and society at large. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1995.

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.

No abstract available. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This paper focuses on the issue of constructive dismissal in terms of s186(e) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 which defines dismissal to include circumstances where an employee resigns because the employer has made continued employment intolerable. The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe case law on this issue and to consider what type of conduct has been regarded as intolerable by the courts in order to determine whether or not a case for constructive has been met. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This research set out to ascertain whether the employers of domestic workers within the Msunduzi Area do comply with the requirements of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector. For domestic workers who were exploited during the apartheid era, this determination was perceived as a mechanism that would liberate them (Department of Labour, 2005, p.7). Trade unions use collective bargaining as a tool to fight for employee rights. Domestic workers are unionised, but their trade unions are not as powerful as their counterparts in the private sector (Department of Labour, 2005, p.7). According to Huber (2001, p.20), one of the reasons domestic workers were excluded from most labour laws was the belief that it would be difficult to check whether or not each individual employer complied with the laws. This problem still exists and needs to be solved. Government laws were meant to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation (mainly farm and domestic workers), but what is actually happening is that, rather than protecting employees from exploitation, they serve as corrective action. They are only implemented when there is a case between an employee and the employer. The government has a responsibility to protect vulnerable employees such as domestic and farm workers. The mechanism instituted by the government to protect domestic workers was through the promulgation of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Service Sector, which lays down minimum working conditions for domestic workers (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). The main aim was to alleviate exploitation of domestic workers by the employers due to the power imbalance between these two parties (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). This study compares what the employer offers to an employee in terms of wages, working hours, meal intervals and leave. From the observation of the research, little research has been done on the compliance or non-compliance with Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Service Sector, within the Msunduzi Region. The outcome of the findings from this research were that the minimum salary for those employees who work more than five days are R727,60 instead of R861,90 and for those domestic workers who work for five days a week it is an average of R528,93 instead of R567, 79. The results indicated that many of the standards set down by the government are clearly not being met by the employers of domestic workers, for example minimum wages are not being paid and maximum hours are being exceeded. The determination stipulated that the maximum hours that should be worked a week is 45 hours and a maximum of nine hours per day; this was not in line with the standards, seeing that the average amount of time worked per week by respondents was 46.9 hours and 9.3 hours per day. As far as meals are concerned Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector, indicated that the standard should be an hour meal interval for every five hours worked. Respondents from this study disagreed that they were given an hour-long lunch time and reflected that the average time taken for meals was only 30 minutes. Finally, domestic workers need to have annual leave of 21 consecutive days (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). This standard was not being met, as the average number of days being given for annual leave is 16.5 days. Maternity leave should be given as four consecutive months for domestic workers. It was found that 89,3% of domestic workers were given maternity leave of less than the stipulated four consecutive months. Domestic workers should be given five days' leave for family responsibility (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). The respondents indicated that this was not adhered to, as the average number of days being given to the domestic workers for family responsibility was 1.4 days. Only 13,8% of domestic workers were granted five days' family responsibility leave and approximately 67,6% received less than five days for family responsibility leave. The study recommended that there should be some kind of government policy of doing consistent spot checks in different areas in the Msunduzi Area and possibly the rest of the country. This will require the Department of Labour to increase its manpower. More labour inspectors will be needed to ensure that this whole area is sufficiently monitored. The study revealed that union officials need to devise means and ways of coming into contact with domestic workers. Employers were expected to have a copy of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Service Sector available, within easy access of domestic workers. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

In Sidumo v Rustenburg Platinum Ltd ((2007) 12 BLLR 1097 (CC); (2007) 28 ILJ 2405 (CC); 2008 (2) SA 24 (CC)) the Constitutional Court made two findings of immense significance for dismissed employees: firstly, the court rejected the use of the so-called “reasonable employer” test in our law, a test which traditionally required arbitrators and courts evaluating the fairness of a dismissal for proven misconduct to treat the employer’s decision on sanction with a measure of deference; and secondly, on scrutiny of the more controversial issue before the court, to wit, the basis, if any, upon which arbitrators are obliged to make reasonable decisions, the court (in confirming that arbitrators are so obliged) held that the obligation to do so suffuses section 145 of the LRA, and that the extended review grounds legislated under PAJA do not apply. In the present article these judicial conclusions are critically analysed and evaluated, and a number of submissions are made, inter alia: it is submitted that the Constitutional Court’s rejection of the “reasonable employer” test was premised on a fundamental misinterpretation of the test; that while the court’s attempt to locate the reasonableness standard within the LRA was perhaps justifiable, the court failed to consider properly, or at all, the wording of section 145 and its history, with the consequence that the court failed to appreciate that section 145 of the LRA (save on an unduly strained interpretation) could not conceivably be construed to cater, in itself and without more, for the constitutional right to lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair administrative action; and further, that the labour landscape post-Sidumo is, to an extent, unquestionably one bathed in greater uncertainty. In conclusion, the author poses the question whether, on a review of Sidumo, the Constitutional Court should not be considered to have fallen short of fulfilling its constitutional obligations under the rule of law.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Office Management and Technology)-Durban University of Technology, 2005 xv, 129 leaves / The Constitution contains the Bill of Rights, one that is regarded as the corner-stone of democracy, as it enshrines the rights of all people and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. Section 9(1) provides for the promotion of a society in which diversity of identity is respected and protected. The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, stipulates that designated employers implement affirmative action, thereby compelling organizations to eradicate all forms of discrimination in organizational processes and procedures. With such legal measures put in place (Promotion of the Equality Act) acceptance and change within organisations has to be accelerated. The purpose of this study is to explore workplace discrimination against trainees within the Hotel and Catering industries. Workplace discrimination is against human rights and can become a legal violation of Labour laws. Although preventative policies are in place, this study would illuminate the extent to which discrimination occurs, how it has manifested itself, and how students would be affected by this discrimination.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Office Management and Technology)-Durban University of Technology, 2005 xv, 129 leaves / The Constitution contains the Bill of Rights, one that is regarded as the corner-stone of democracy, as it enshrines the rights of all people and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. Section 9(1) provides for the promotion of a society in which diversity of identity is respected and protected. The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, stipulates that designated employers implement affirmative action, thereby compelling organizations to eradicate all forms of discrimination in organizational processes and procedures. With such legal measures put in place (Promotion of the Equality Act) acceptance and change within organisations has to be accelerated. The purpose of this study is to explore workplace discrimination against trainees within the Hotel and Catering industries. Workplace discrimination is against human rights and can become a legal violation of Labour laws. Although preventative policies are in place, this study would illuminate the extent to which discrimination occurs, how it has manifested itself, and how students would be affected by this discrimination.