Your top employee resigns and immediately opens up a new business in direct opposition to you. Using your software, your client relationships and your business methods to springboard their new start-up and poach your clients. We discuss, in the context of a recent High Court case, how our law can help you put a stop to that sort of unfair competition. And we share some tips on how to protect yourself from it in the future.
Not every difficult manager is a workplace bully, and not every uncomfortable workplace is an unlawful one. But where exactly does the law draw the line?
A 2023 Labour Court judgment tackles that question head-on, with important lessons for both employers and employees. If you’ve ever wondered whether a harassment claim would succeed against your employer, or whether your management style exposes your business to legal risk, the answer may surprise you.
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) for each “ordinary hour worked” has been increased from 1 March 2026 by 5% from R28,79 per hour to R30,23 per hour. Domestic workers: Assuming a work month of 22 days x 8 hours per day, R30,23 per hour equates to R241,84 per day or R5320,48 per month. Of course,…
“Sexual harassment is the most heinous conduct that plagues the workplace.” (Extract from the judgment below) Our courts have no tolerance for sexual harassment in the workplace, stressing that, at its core, it is concerned with power dynamics at work. A recent Labour Court decision has confirmed that in assessing whether or not an employee…
“Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare.” (Ed Asner, actor with a great sense of humour!) A game-changing judgment from our Constitutional Court sets out new rules for parental leave. The joy of becoming parents, and a father’s leave dilemma The birth of a couple’s first child presented them with both a bundle…
“Forewarned is forearmed.” (Wise old proverb) Government keeps assuring us that the long-delayed AARTO (Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences) system will finally begin its full national rollout on 1 December 2025. Is this another false start or the real thing this time? There have been so many false starts to AARTO over the last…
“There’s no trust, no faith, no honesty in men.” (William Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet) A recent Labour Court decision is a stark reminder to employees that an employment relationship is founded on trust, and that any breach of that trust could justify dismissal. Pocketing a 50c coin to balance her till The responsibilities of…
“When cognitive capacities are the focus, the 70s are the new 50s.” (IMF) Fake news articles suggesting that South Africa was implementing a new standard retirement age policy, supposedly from 30 May this year, recently went viral on social media. Convincingly structured to look realistic (AI’s dark hand there?), the articles suggested that 65 is…
“The legal principles, as I understand them, do not confer on me the powers of Father Christmas. I cannot rescue the un-rescuable.” (Quoted in the judgment below) We all want loyal, competent staff who remain motivated to stay with us in the long term, but the reality is that a degree of employee churn is…
It’s vital for both employers and employees to understand the practical and legal differences between permanent and fixed term employment arrangements. What is a fixed term contract? A fixed term contract is a temporary employment arrangement with a specified start date and an agreed end date. This could be a fixed end date or a…
