UPDATE YOUR WORKPLACE RULES AND EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS

Since 1995 the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and Basic Conditions of Employment Act have been replaced with entirely new versions. In addition
new legislation in the form of the Skills Development Act and the Employment Equity Act have been born. The LRA has also been further amended more than once. Attached to these acts are numerous codes of practice that provide guidelines as to what is fair and acceptable.
However, as large as this body of legislation is it often falls short when it comes to detail. For example, the LRA requires employers to prove that a
dismissed employee’s conduct must have been so gross as to render a continued employment relationship intolerable. However, the LRA neither
defines what would make an employment relationship intolerable nor what degree of behaviour can be considered gross.
Therefore, employers and employees need to look to case law for more detailed guidance as to what the law means and what would be fair in specific
circumstances. In addition, the employer’s own rules and terms and conditions of employment can, within limits, play a significant role in determining what
discipline is and is not fair.
For example, in the case of Rubin Sportswear vs SACTWU and others (2004, 10 BLLR 986) the employer took over a business and then introduced a rule
changing the age at which employees were to take retirement. The Labour Appeal Court found that the word “normal” means “the way things are
normally done” and that the employer could not unilaterally change what was normal.
It is therefore imperative that employers have their rules reviewed in line with the latest interpretation of the law by the courts. Furthermore, had the new
employer, at the time of takeover, negotiated renewed employment contracts with its employees, it could have included the new retirement age in those
contracts. This would have legitimated the change in the retirement age. There are other equally important reasons that employers need to update their
rules and terms and conditions of employment. For example, employers are not allowed to suspend employees unfairly and one element of unfairness
could be the extreme length of the employee’s suspension period. That is, if the employer’s disciplinary code does not cater for protracted suspensions
then a drawn out period of suspension could be considered unfair even if the employee is being paid.

Protracted suspensions could be unfair not only on the employee but also on the employer and on the general public! This is because, where the employee
is being paid to sit at home without working, the employer bears the burden of the cost of the employee’s unearned remuneration. Thus, either the
company’s shareholders have their profits eroded or the taxpayer shoulders the burden where the employer is the state. For example, it was reported in
The Star that 11 officials of the Road Accident Fund were suspended on full salary for a period not less than 10 months at a cost of R5,3 million (The Star,
3 June 2004, page 17.
The standard clauses in employer’s disciplinary codes are no longer sufficient because provision needs to be made for exceptions as well. For example,
should the employer wish to discipline an employee twice for the same act of misconduct the employer’s disciplinary code should provide for this. In the
case of BMW (SA) (Pty Ltd vs Van der Walt (Contemporary Labour Law vol. 13 No.5 page 49) the Labour Appeal Court held that it is important, that, for a
second hearing for the same incident of misconduct to be fair, this should ideally be permitted by the employer’s disciplinary code. In addition, the
holding of a second hearing must be fair in all respects. Employers are warned that the holding of such second hearings will only be fair in
exceptional cases.
Should employers fail to keep up with such decisions of court judges and of arbitrators they will be unable to run their organisations according to law
because labour law is a constantly changing thing. Should employers fail to update their rules, disciplinary codes and terms and
conditions of employment in the light of new case law decisions they will be caught short when it comes to implementing discipline and dismissal. This is
because an employer’s rules and policies should encapsulate the latest labour laws so that, when management applies the policies, they are in line with the
law. It can be a laborious and complex task for an employer to draw up a comprehensive set of rules, but dealing with the consequences of having no
rules can be far more onerous for employers at the CCMA, bargaining councils and Labour Court. If employers are not in a position to take charge of
this vital task there are experts they can use who can take over the pain of carrying it out and making sure it is done properly.

To attend our 14 May 2010 seminar in Cape Town on CHANGES AND DANGERS IN LABOUR LAW please contact Ronni at
[email protected] or on 0845217492 or (011) 782-3066.