What does this mean for the Labour Relations Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act?
The Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill were passed by Cabinet on Thursday 22 March 2012. The process is that they are passed to go through the Parliamentary process. This will be followed by public hearin
After 6 months in all categories there are restrictions that apply to employees currently earning under R172000 gross per annum in the categories of temporary employment, fixed term contracts and part time employees. Employers’ ability therefore on flexibility is thereby curtailed and we believe that this will effect existing jobs as well as future jobs.
The clause on equal treatment after 6 months will have a dramatic effect on the cost of doing business. We are of the opinion that it will not be a comparable race to the highest paid but believe Businesses will restructure in order to ensure that there is no race to the top of a package category.
The amendment to section 187(1)(c) is a technical amendment on terminating lock outs and could affect Businesses ability to change conditions of service. The current wording of the proposed amendment is unclear and we believe this may have a dramatic effect on restructuring going forward.
Further amendments that are of a general nature which are problematic are:
- The lodging security with the Labour Court when employers take matters on review.
- The enforcement mechanism of removing compulsory nature of undertaking and the ability to object to compliance order from the DG. This will mean that employers will end up before the Labour Court a lot quicker.
These are some of the concerns that do affect Business in general. It is not only the issue of Temporary Employment Services that worries Business, but the general ambient of amendments which will curtail business ability to recruit and retain current employees.
