Article 22/2022

What is the difference between contractual, statutory and collective agreement rights and obligations?

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Statutory rights and obligations

  1. these types of disputes are created by statute and concern an alleged statutory unfair dismissal or an alleged statutory unfair labour practice;
  2. the employee is entitled to claim reinstatement, re-employment or compensation;
  3. the CCMA and labour court have jurisdiction to determine these disputes concerning the unfair conduct of an employer in terms of, inter alia, s193, s194 and s195 of the LRA

Contractual rights and obligations

  1. these disputes concern the alleged breach of a contract, excluding a collective agreement;
  2. the claimant’s claim is for damages, compensation or specific performance;
  3. the labour court and high court have concurrent jurisdiction in terms of s77(3) and s77A(e) of the BCEA;
  4. the claimant targets the unlawful conduct of the respondent and, if indeed it is a dismissal matter, a declaration that same is unlawful and ab initio void;

Collective agreement

  1. here the cause of action is the breach of such agreement and the remedy is set out in s24 of the LRA;
  2. s77(3) and s77A(e) of the BCEA are not applicable.
March 21, 2025

In the scenario where an employer has embarked upon an organisational restructuring exercise and, as part of such exercise, is attempting to adjust and streamline roles and positions that have the consequence that certain jobs are made
redundant, and the employer requires the employees who held such jobs to compete for new jobs in a new organigram, what are some of the important principles governing this scenario?

March 18, 2025

How are medical certificates to be dealt with in the absence of affidavits from doctors or evidence given by doctors who issued such medical certificates?

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