Labour Law Case Examples

CASE STUDY 2*

Mr A is employed by the XYZ Courier Company as a driver.  While delivering documents to one of the company's clients, Mr A is involved in a motor car accident, through no fault of his own. He is seriously injured in the accident, so much so that he is confined to a wheel chair, and advised that he will never be able to drive again.  When Mr A returns to work, the company's human resources manager meets with A and advises him that since he can no longer drive, and in the absence of any suitable and available alternative employment, the company has no choice but to terminate his employment for reasons of incapacity. The Company's policies make no provision for disability benefits for its employees.  Mr A is paid one months' salary in lieu of notice, and is asked to leave the company's premises.  

Mr A is understandably upset at the company's decision, and seeks your professional advice. He tells you that he has had a discussion with a friend who is enrolled for law degree, and considers that he has been unfairly dismissed (both substantively and procedurally) and that he has been a victim of unfair discrimination on the grounds of disability.

Advise Mr A what he would need to establish to succeed in each of the claims that he thinks he has, what test an arbitrator or a Labour Court is likely to apply to determine each of the claims, and what remedies are available to him in each instance. Finally, advise Mr A on his prospects of success in respect of each of the claims, bearing in mind the provisions of the Labour Relations Act, the Employment Equity Act, the Code of Good Practice on Dismissal, and the Code of Good Practice on the Employment of People with Disabilities, and any decided cases that you think are relevant. In your answer, you should also consider any possible defences that Mr A may have to meet.

CASE STUDY 3*

The Terrific Workers Union (TWU), a newly registered trade union, approaches an employer, Big Business (BB) and requests the right of access to the employer’s premises in order to recruit new members. The union has recently undertaken a big recruitment drive after it identified an opportunity of recruiting members of other unions after these other unions had been deregistered. The union also asks BB to grant it the right to have trade union membership fees or subscriptions from the remuneration paid to the workers who join TWU.

At the time of writing the letter (accompanied by a certified copy of the union’s registration certificate) containing these requests to BB, TWU claims that it has 78 members. BB disputes this number, saying that its records showed that TWU only had 64 members.

There was another union organising in BB’s workplaces, namely OMWU: this union had a membership of 174 of the employer’s 300 weekly-paid employees. OMWU, as the majority union, had been recognised by the employer three years before, and it conducted bi-annual wage negotiations on behalf of the weekly-paid employees. BB had recognised OMWU in a recognition agreement concluded between the parties and the employer regarded OMWU as a “business partner” – even though the employer had no policy on union recognition.

Two years previously, BB had recognised a union representing only 20% of its skilled artisans.

BB declines TWU’s request for the right of access to the workplace and the deduction of union subscriptions. It says that TWU is not sufficiently representative and that TWU is not entitled to these rights. BB takes a firm line and says that it does not want to have anything to do with TWU.

TWU refers a dispute to the CCMA in terms of section 21 of the Labour Relations Act. The conciliation process under the auspices of the CCMA fails to resolve the issue, mainly because BB refuses to change its position. A certificate is issued by the CCMA that the dispute could not be resolved.  

TWU decides that it is too small to go on an effective strike, and refers the dispute to the CCMA for arbitration. Identify the two main issues in dispute as the arbitrator would do, and then outline the legal principles that the arbitrator would have to apply in deciding this dispute.

CASE STUDY*

Big Enterprises (BE) has a recognition agreement with the National Union of Workers (NUW). In terms of the agreement, the Union is recognised in respect of its members in a defined bargaining unit comprising all weekly paid employees. Sixty percent (60%) of the employees in the bargaining unit are union members, the balance have no union affiliation. The company, however, has a well-established practice of extending whatever wage increase it agrees with the union to all employees in the bargaining unit.