Employers have to undertake a thorough risk assessment before implementing a mandatory vaccination policy. The services of employees who refuse to be vaccinated may be terminated in certain circumstances, but not before the employer has attempted to reasonably accommodate such employees as set out herein.
Employers are advised to seek professional legal advice in ensuring that their contracts of employment and/or service agreements are clear and distinguishable from one another and clearly defines an employer/employee relationship or an independent contractor relationship.
The judgment in Beadica 231 CC and Others v Trustees for the time being of Oregon Trust and Others (CCT109/2019) serves as an important turning-point in our law around contracts and specifically the freedom of persons to enter into any contract on terms to which the parties agree.
Megan was admitted as an attorney in December 2018 and joined our firm in 2019. She has worked in our litigation department for over 2 years and has gained experience working and advising on various [...]
A company can be liquidated regardless of whether it is solvent or insolvent. If a company is insolvent, it is unable to satisfy its debts as and when they come due (this is referred to [...]
The current position in our law is, accordingly, that where an employee is suspended for precautionary reasons (i.e. in that the employer was concerned that the employee’s continued presence in the workplace would provide him/her with the opportunity to interfere with potential witnesses and/or to destroy pertinent evidence) the employer is under no obligation to afford the employee a pre-suspension hearing before affecting the suspension.
The Cybercrimes Act (the Act) focuses mainly on criminalising the interference with computer systems and data, which is described in more detail in Andrew Marshall’s article on the subject. However, the Act also has bearing on the way we use (and often abuse) social media which will have an impact on the general public. What you share on social media platforms, including WhatsApp and WhatsApp groups, could now land you in jail if we consider the sections relating to “malicious communications” in the Act.
The Cybercrimes Act has finally been signed into law by the President. The purpose of the Act is to bring South Africa into line with international jurisprudence on the detection and prosecution of crimes which are either specific to computers, or which are perpetrated using computers. This is a very brief summary of the sections of the Act that may interest our clients.
If your neighbour is building at the early hours of the morning or on your (supposed-to-be) serene Sundays and he is not able to prove that any of the requisite exceptions to the regulations apply, certain remedies become available to you as an affected party. Such relief is based in terms of the relevant By-laws in your area, such as the City of Cape Town’s Municipal Planning By-law and the Streets, Public Places and Prevention of Noise Nuisance By-law which is exclusively applicable to the City.
Employers are cautioned against using the results of polygraph tests as the sole basis for disciplining an employee. The probative value of polygraph testing remains open ended, and its reliability, if any, is to be determined by the courts on a case-by-case basis and in conjunction with expert and / or further corroborating evidence.