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Thread: Employees threatening legal action against employer

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    Employees threatening legal action against employer

    Please, i need help

    i am sitting in a tight position at work and i need some clarity about what to do and what the consequences and benefits would be of any action i could take.

    I'll try to summarize where possible to try and avoid turning this into an essay :P

    I'm currently employed at a computer shop and have been here for about 2 and a half years, the owners of this company have no regard for procedure or law in any way, if possible i would leave or resign, but i live in a small town and there isn't much work in my area

    things of note in the company are as follows:

    1.) tax, uif, irp5 etc. are alien concepts, i earn R7k a month and as i understand it i need to pay tax, when i asked my boss about this is, he replied by asking me if i wanted to earn less money

    2.) there are no contracts. i don't really have to comment on this one, not a single employee has a contract

    3.) 2 of the employees are considered temporary employees and get paid daily R150 each, even though the one has worked there for longer than 8 months and the other for longer than a year. when the employee asked the boss about becoming permanent and having his salary paid at the end of the month he was degraded regarding the quality of his work and whether he deserved to work at all, to the other he simply said that he won't because there is no benefit for him, if he appointed him, he would have to give him benefits like leave days and that doesn't suit him

    at this stage at least 2 employees want to take legal action, but i don't know what the ramifications would be. i'm considering joining solidarity and asking them for advice, but i'm pretty sure that they would just like to go all out against him, regardless of whats in my best interest. I've been told by a few people that the labor department or ccma would close the shop if they heard about this, and i would get a lot of money from suing him, I'm not really interested in that, i'm more concerned with the fact that if they close the shop, I'm sitting without a job. that's not even considering what the tax man would do to me, because from what i understand i am liable for all outstanding taxes

    please any advice, information, or general help would be greatly appreciated

    PS: i'm not against profiting through this, but my primary concern is being able to have a roof over my head

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    sorry, but i forgot to mention a fourth problem:

    4.) the employees are not registered for workman's compensation, i recently injured myself (minor injury, few stitches) at work and was told to go to my local gp and get it sorted on my medical (which i pay) seeing as we don't have workman's compensation this probably ticks me off the most, because i don't know what would have happened if it was a serious injury and i was unable to work again

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Techyman View Post
    4.) the employees are not registered for workman's compensation, i recently injured myself (minor injury, few stitches) at work and was told to go to my local gp and get it sorted on my medical (which i pay) seeing as we don't have workman's compensation this probably ticks me off the most, because i don't know what would have happened if it was a serious injury and i was unable to work again
    Your employer would certainly be in for a rude wake-up call - quite possibly a financially fatal one for the business and even for him/her personally

    Is the business incorporated in some form (Closed Corporation or Pty Ltd), or a [sole proprietorship or partnership]?
    (I ask because it's relevant when it comes to your options).

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    As far as i understand its one of those of the shelf cc companies

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    There are a number of issues that the company is avoiding and failing to comply with. As far as I am concerned you have two options. 1. Report them to the relevant authorities. But by doing this you will face more repercussions from the company. If they don't do things properly at this stage and have no regard for doing things the right way, they will make your life difficult. The second option is to leave. Ask yourself if you really want to be with this company for the rest of your life. Why not move and make a different life out there for yourself, even if you have to move to another town ? Do not be scared to reach out and look for another job or even to broader your knowledge and study to improve yourself to be able to move at a later stage.
    You do not have to put up with a down and out job for the rest of your life.

    There was another guy on this site a while ago (tech who in fact also lived in a small town in Mpumalanga, coincidence) who also had similar issues and also had job issues etc.

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Techyman View Post
    As far as i understand its one of those of the shelf cc companies
    So it's not like the boss is trying to pretend that he/she is part of the informal sector.

    I'm pretty much with HR Solutions - try to get out on your own terms a.s.a.p.
    It's going to get messy sooner or later. Try to get out on your own timescale before the brown stuff starts flying.

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