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Article 25/2021

Labour Edge

In terms of a health and safety collective agreement, an employee was appointed as a fulltime health and safety shop steward (HSS).  To what extent does this collective agreement between the employer and trade union constitute a contract for the benefit of a third party (stipulatio alteri), namely, the employee?

The labour appeal court recently, in Maripane v Glencore Operations SA (Pty) Ltd (Lion Ferrochrome) (2019) 30 SALLR 163 (LAC), adopted the following approach to this issue:

  1. the test whether a contract is made for the benefit of a third party (a stipulatio alteri) is whether, by adopting the contract, the third party can become a party to it (see GB Bradfield Christie’s Law of Contract in South Africa 7 ed. (LexisNexis 2016). at 266 and the cases referred to there, including Crookes v Watson 1956 (1) SA 277 (A) at 291C; and Joel Melamed and Horwitz v Cleveland Estates (Pty) Ltd 1984 (3) SA 155 (A). at 172A–F); and
  2. because of its terms and the way in which it was structured, the agreement was capable of being construed as a contract made for the benefit of a third party(ies), such as the health and safety representatives envisaged in it. By standing for and being elected to the position of HSS, they adopted the agreement and a vinculum iuris was created between the elected HSS, NUM and the employer (i.e. the respondent). As a result, they (individually and respectively) came into the agreement as a party with one of the parties to the agreement, were bound by it and could enforce its terms insofar as those terms related to them (see: inter alia, McCullough v Fernwood Estates Ltd 1920 A.D. 204 at 206, cited in Christie’s (above). at 310). These would include the terms relating to their qualifications, their appointment, their term of office, their conditions of employment, including their reporting obligations, their remuneration, their hours of work, their facilities, the termination of their appointment and the manner in which they had to perform their functions, the obligations of the respondent, including its obligation to inform the health and safety representatives of inspections, accidents, etc, the obligations of secrecy, the dispute procedures regarding disclosures of information, and the training of health and safety representatives;

July 20, 2026

Precautionary suspensions

In the public sector, the Senior Management Service Handbook (SMS Handbook) directly addresses precautionary suspensions and the 60-day time limit.

Clause 2.7(2)(c) of the SMS Handbook provides that ‘If a member is suspended or transferred as a precautionary measure, the employer must hold a disciplinary hearing within 60 days. The chair of the hearing must then decide on any further postponement.’

Regulation 6 of the Local Government: Disciplinary Regulations Senior Managers, 2010 (Regulations) provides for the precautionary suspension of senior municipal employees and Regulation 6(6)(a) provides: ‘If a senior is suspended, a disciplinary hearing must commence within three months after the date of suspension, failing which the suspension will automatically lapse.’

What are the principles governing a determination of the question as to whether or not a senior municipal employee’s suspension automatically lapses in terms of the aforesaid Regulation 6(6)(a)?

Obviously, the answers to the aforesaid question are very relevant in the private sector where, firstly, a collective agreement regulates a similar process or, alternatively, such contractual rights have been created between the parties, to be enforced in terms of s77(3) of the BCEA.

July 13, 2026

In the previous article, we dealt with the consequences of a plant level collective agreement with a definite beginning and end date. We indicated to you that, in line with s23(2) of the LRA, and an analysis of the relevant case law, that, once such a collective agreement reaches its expiry date, it expires and is no longer of any force or effect. In this article, we deal with the scenario where a plant level collective agreement is concluded for an indefinite period and the employer gave notice to terminate same.

What are the consequences when a party to a plant level collective agreement, concluded for an indefinite time period, gives notice to terminate such collective agreement?

July 6, 2026

In terms of s23(2), a collective agreement binds, for the whole period of the collective agreement, every person so bound in terms of s23(1)(c) (the members of a registered trade union and the employers who are members of a registered employers’ organisation who are a party to the collective agreement, if the collective agreement regulates the terms and conditions of employment, or the conduct of the employers and employees) who was a member at the time it became binding, or who becomes a member after it became binding (irrespective of whether or not that person continues to be a member of such trade union or employers’ organisation for the duration of the collective agreement).

What is the relevant case law development as to a plant level collective agreement that has an expiry date, i e does such collective agreement continue to be of force and effect after such expiry date?