Absconding Deserting Employees

[NIRE]

Thank you so much.

First for all those who don't know your policies and procedures are accepted in CCMA and Court as the "laws" and "Contractual agreed obligations" it takes away the grey and you only left to deal with the black and white. Take the time to put them in place and to maintain them, because they useless until that one moment they save you allot of time and allot of money.

First question how to do a policy and procedure?

The easy way is to split the two words “policy� and “procedure�. Start with policy what is it that you want to do, list it as you would like it (forget about everything ells including the law). Then focus on procedure, how you want to do it.

This leaves you with what you want and how you want it. Don’t limit yourself with what you think you can and can’t do, list it all as though there isn’t anything to hold you back.

Now go to the labour relations act, the basic conditions of employment act and the Health and Safety act. Make sure that your Policy and Procedure does not negate or negatively impact on any specifically mentioned rights or obligations.

After this you go to the Codes of Good Practice and make sure that the procedure part of your policies fall in line with these.

Now you will have what you want and how you want it without limiting yourself, but with the assurance that you are legally compliant.

Allot of people do not realize that your policies dictate the law within your business and can contain anything as long as it is based on the inherent nature and requirements of the business. You can and must stipulate everything you want and need. The only consideration is that it cannot contravene a law or negatively impact on basic human rights or rights under the law.

Second question: Where to find information on CCMA rules and Codes of good Practice especially Disciplinary Procedures?

There is not a specific manual but rather info sheets and Codes.

The CCMA website gives short explanations to specific areas and lists the Codes of good Practice which are the guidelines used to determine cases.

A policy of Disciplinary Procedures is usually compiled from the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Health and Safety Act as there are a number of gray arias in these acts that require you to choose your preference within their framework.

I always train my clients on these Acts and laws first as this makes it easy to understand what the rules are, once they know these they choose how they would like to run their ship and we compile the procedure.

There are hundreds of Disciplinary Policies and Procedures on the web, the main problem I have with using those is that you miss out on the things you would like (and don’t know you can have). Once you know the facts you can get allot more specific to your business.

It is a bit of a process but the knowledge you gain saves you time and money in the long run.

Thanks again