HRM: Unit 3 (scope)

Methods to conclude contract

written agreement

verbal agreement

tacit agreement

Written agreement

the terms and conditions of employment for both parties who entered into the contract of employment and the explicit rights of the parties

Verbal agreement

absence of the written document does not necessarily mean that there is no employment contract between the parties

Tacit agreement

when parties enter into an employment relationship without written terms and conditions of employment

Every trade union and employers’ organisation has the right:

- To plan and organise its administration and lawful activities

– To form a federation of trade unions or employers’ organisations

– To join a federation of trade unions or employers’ organisations

– Subject to its constitution, to participate in its lawful activities

– To affiliate with and participate in the affairs of any international worker’s organisation or international employer’s organisation or the ILO

– To contribute to or receive financial assistance from those organisations

2 types of labour disputes

Dispute of rights

Dispute of interest

Disputes of rights

disputes to which a party is entitled to by law, contract, agreement, custom and practice, they are resolved via judicial adjudication or arbitration

Disputes of interest

disputes to which a party is not yet legally entitled, cannot be settled by means of negotiation, the employees may exercise their right to strike once the applicable procedure has been followed

Organisational rights

rights that a registered trade union may exercise in a workplace, the purpose of organisational rights is to enable unions to organise and represent workers at their workplaces.

Representative trade union

any registered trade union, or two or more registered trade unions acting jointly, that is sufficiently representative of employees

Sufficiently representative def

not defined by LRA, determined by collective bargaining

The organisational rights part of the LRA include

the right to access to the workplace

deduction of trade union subscriptions

election of trade union representatives

leave for trade union representatives

disclosure of information

Sufficiently representative

not clear from the Act. Some instances 10% union membership is regarded as sufficient in other cases a higher threshold e.g. 30% - is required

Most representative union

situations where there is no majority union, but there is 1 union that either enjoys most support among all the unions in the workplace, or is the only union with workplace support

Types of union security agreements

Agency shop agreements

Closed shop agreements

Agency shop agreement

A particular form of union security arrangement in terms of which all employees within a particular bargaining unit are required either to belong to a particular trade union or to pay an agency fee to it

Closed shop agreement

An employer and a majority union enter into an agreement that all employees covered by the agreement must become members of a majority union

BCEA Working time

Ordinary: max/week - 45 hours — max/daily - 9 hours & 8 hours

Overtime: max 3 hours/day or 10 hours/week

Compensation: 1.5 times normal wage or granted period of paid time off equivalent to overtime pay

BCEA Meal intervals

60 minutes after 5 hours of work (can be reduced to 30 minutes)

BCEA Daily and weekly rest periods

12 hours between ending work and starting work

36 consecutive hours each week

longer rest periods (60 hours) every 2 weeks

BCEA Night work

work between 6pm to 6am

transport must be available

compensated by means of allowance or reduction of working hours

BCEA Sunday work

paid double hourly wage

if normally works on sunday, 1.5 times normal wage

time off may be granted for Sundays

BCEA Public holidays

may not be required to work on public holiday unless by agreement

receive normal wages if public holiday falls on normal working day

remunerated double rates

BCEA Emergency work

Limits on ordinary and overtime working hours and requirements of meal intervals and rest periods do not prevent the performance of emergency work

Sick leave

6 weeks paid sick leave for every 36 months of work

first 6 months of employment, only 1 paid day for every 26 days worked

require a medical certificate

daily pay for sick leave may be reduced by agreement, not below 75% ordinary pay

Maternity leave

4 months maternity leave without pay, 4 weeks before due date

notify employer on which day intended to commence and date of return

not require employee to return to work sooner than 6 weeks after birth

BCEA Family responsibility leave

3 days paid family responsibility leave per year

applies to employees working 4 or more days a week

Burden of proof

Whenever unfair discrimination is alleged in terms of the Act, the employer against whom the allegation is made must prove either that the discrimination did not take place or, if it did, that it was justified

Affirmative action

Measures designed to ensure that suitably qualified people from designated groups have equal employment opportunities and are equitably represented in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce of a designated employer.