The gist of a thread posted on Business Masters.


PROPOSED CHANGES TO LABOUR LAWS

On Friday the 17th of December 2010 the government gazetted a number of proposed changes to the labour laws in South Africa. Whilst these changes are in proposal form, the public have until the 17th of February 2011 to comment.

It is highly likely that these amendments will be implemented this year – in much the same format as what has been proposed.



CHANGES TO EMPLOYMENT EQUITY LEGISLATION

Simply put, if you employ more than 50 employees, you will be expected to comply with your regional and national demographics in terms of the recruitment of black people, women and the disabled. Failure to do so will result in penalties of between 2% and 10% of your turnover.


LABOUR BROKING

The proposed amendment does not ban labour broking. Rather it puts in measures to protect employees. Most importantly it now clearly specifies who the employer is - in the past this was always a grey area. Was the employer the labour broker or the client where the employee had been placed? Currently the answer is the Labour Broker but this is about to change.

In terms of the proposals the employer is now clearly identified as the client. Yes, that’s right – You = the client. The employee having a dispute will be able to cite you as the Employer at the CCMA and not the labour broker!



REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

This is all about regulation of employment agencies and the creation of a super government department to handle job placements, etc.
However what is interesting is that it is now specifically forbidden to charge a job seeker a placement fee!


FIXED TERM CONTRACTS – A THING OF THE PAST


In essence the proposed bill talks about security of employment and the fact that the use of fixed term contracts has deprived many employees of their rights to benefits and security of tenure. Simply put, it is going to make it very difficult to justify employing junior staff on a fixed term contract unless its’ for a specific defined project. Note –Junior employees only - Senior employees will be exempt – employ them on Fixed Term contracts as you want.

For many of you this will mean a complete review of your current contracts of employment.