Jason Whyte

Don’t Forget to Renew Overtime Clauses

By Jason Whyte and Stacy Smit on May 24, 2023 Posted in General, Uncategorized

In February 2023 the Labour Court delivered judgment in a review of an arbitration award of the CCMA. The employees concerned were charged and dismissed for gross insubordination when they refused to obey the instruction of their manager to work overtime. The CCMA found the dismissals to be substantively fair. During evidence at the arbitration, … Continue reading

Constitutional Court clarifies the use of replacement labour during strikes and lock-outs

By Jason Whyte and Heidi Davis on April 25, 2023 Posted in General

On 18 April 2023, the Constitutional Court found that replacement labour may only be used for the duration of strike action and not during a lock-out, even in instances where a lock-out notice was delivered before the strike had ended. Following unsuccessful claims in both the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court, the union applied … Continue reading

Asylum Seekers’ right to apply for asylum not barred by delay

By Jason Whyte on February 15, 2022 Posted in General

This blog was co-authored by: Anneline Coetsee, Candidate Attorney The Constitutional Court held in December 2021 that, although the amendments to the Refugees Act, 1998 and its regulations imposed more onerous procedural requirements on asylum seekers, these requirements do not rob them persons of their right to apply for asylum, even if there had been … Continue reading

Can South African employers require their employees to undergo mandatory vaccination and testing for COVID-19?

By Jason Whyte on January 26, 2021 Posted in General

Global efforts have successfully developed both expedited means of testing for the COVID-19 virus and, more recently, vaccines. Employers may thus wish to explore the introduction of workplace policies which formalise mandatory testing and vaccination protocols in order to restore their workplaces to some level of normality, particularly workplaces where remote working is not suitable. … Continue reading