Labour Law News Update

The Labour Appeal Court, has finally put paid the issue of whether workers earning less than the threshold determined by the Minister of Labour, presently around R 205,433-00 annually employed by Temporary Employment Service Providers (TES) and “hired” out to “clients” on recurring contracts of three months are now deemed to be employees of the ” client” and not the TES?

This is an indeed landmark judgment handed down on the 10 July 2017.

Permit me to expand on this, Section 198(3)(b)(i) of the Labour Relations Act had created a grey area where employers in collaboration with TES providers were employing workers, earning below the threshold, for extended durations performing the same work as permanent workers but without the protection of the LRA to fair Labour practices that permanent workers enjoyed.

Section 193A(3)(b)(i) was introduced as an amendment to protect the vulnerable employee from being abused by TES against unfair dismissals and unfair discrimination by regarding such employees as deemed employees of the client and therefore protected under the LRA? The protection is a measure to ensure that these employees are not treated differently from employees directly employed by the client and to ensure that they are fully interpreted into the enterprise as employees of the client. Let me state clearly, the judgment does not ban the TES which provides genuine temporary employment in which case the TES remains as the employer.

I believe that this judgment should be highlighted for the benefit of both employees and employers who subscribe to this page . Please share as widely as possible.