Article 58/2021

Labour Edge

What is the content of the reasonableness requirement to be complied with for a secondary strike to be lawful?

The reasonableness requirement involves a proportionality assessment: the harm caused by the secondary strike to the secondary employer must be in proportion to the harm potentially caused to the primary employer as a consequence of the secondary strike.  In the labour court’s view, this called for an assessment of three key issues:

  1. the effect of the secondary strike on the secondary employer;
  2. the possible direct or indirect effect that the secondary strike may have on the business of the primary employer; and
  3. the proportionality of the harm caused to the primary and secondary employers respectively.
March 10, 2025

What is an employer to do when it suspects that a medical practitioner is issuing pre- signed sick notes, or permitting its employees to buy sick notes, or, alternatively, is engaging in some other dubious practice regarding the issue of sick notes? What is an employer to do when it suspects that a person is not entitled to practice as a medical doctor?

March 7, 2025

Are you required to interpret any of the following: pre-trial minutes, strike ballot guidelines, the LRA, a separation agreement, a benefits dispute, an arbitration award, the BCEA, a restraint of trade, a traditional disciplinary enquiry charge sheet, the constitution of a trade union, etc?

March 4, 2025

The labour appeal court recently, in Murray and Roberts Cementation (Pty) Ltd v AMCU obo Dube and Others (2024) 35 SALLR 116 (LAC), confirmed important principles relating to the formulation of traditional charge sheets, determining the
fairness of a dismissal, the interpretation of a charge sheet and the reason(s) relied upon by the employer to justify the dismissal of an employee.