Article 48/2025

The labour court has stated ad nauseam that its jurisdiction does not extend to all labour matters and that an applicant must necessarily identify the statutory provision(s) that confers jurisdiction on the labour court in the matter concerned. Van Niekerk J recently, in SA Medical Association Trade Union obo Rikhotso v Member of the Executive Council, Department of Health, Limpopo Province and Others (2023) 34 SALLR 354 (LC), had the opportunity to again deal with the lack of general jurisdiction of the labour court in labour matters – what approach was followed and what are the ‘take away’ principles in this regard?
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  • In Baloyi v Public Protector and Others [2020] ZACC 27; 2021 (2) BCLR 101 (CC); [2021] 4 BLLR 325 (CC); (2021) 42 ILJ 961 (CC); 2022 (3) SA 321 (CC) (Baloyi), the constitutional court said the following:
    • ‘[23] The legislation in terms of which an assignment would be made in the context of the present matter is the LRA. Section 157(1) of the LRA provides for the exclusive jurisdiction of the labour court in all matters that – in terms of the LRA or other law – are to be determined by the labour court. In doing so, it fulfils one of the stated purposes of the LRA, which is to establish the labour court and the labour appeal court as superior courts, with “exclusive jurisdiction to decide matters arising from the Act”. Section 157(1) reads: “Subject to the Constitution and section 173, and except where this Act provides otherwise, the labour court has exclusive jurisdiction in respect of all matters that elsewhere in terms of this Act or in terms of any other law are to be determined by the labour court.”’
  • Section 68(1), s77(2)(a), s145 and s191 of the LRA proffer examples of matters that ‘are to be determined by’ the labour court and are, therefore, by virtue of s157(1), within the exclusive jurisdiction of the labour court.
  • The labour court has, moreover, found that the high court’s jurisdiction in respect of employment-related disputes is ousted only where the dispute is one for which the LRA creates specific remedies, including, for example, unfair dismissal disputes:
    • ‘[24] Crucially, section 157(1) does not afford the labour court general jurisdiction in employment matters…’ (Baloyi)
September 2, 2025

What alternative claim(s) exist in delict to a statutory automatically unfair dismissal, a statutory constructive dismissal and a statutory unfair discrimination claim?

September 2, 2025

The scenario is as follows: in terms of a collective agreement between an employers’ organisation and various trade unions, provision is made for the accreditation of medical schemes by the relevant bargaining council, so that employees may enjoy the benefits of selecting and joining a scheme to which their employers contribute.

August 26, 2025

The labour court is afforded jurisdiction ito s77(1), read with ss77(3), of the BCEA to hear and determine any matter concerning a contract of employment, irrespective of whether a basic condition of employment constitutes a term of contract.