
Inability to provide employees with work during lockdown is not unfair labour practice

The employee was not provided with work on certain days during the national lockdown declared under the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002. He claimed that he had been unfairly suspended. The employer pointed out that during May 2020 they were only permitted to employ five workers at a time and denied that the employee had been suspended.
The Commissioner found that the employee had failed to prove that he had been suspended because the employer had been prohibited from conducting business, which amounted to a case of impossibility of performance. The employer was not liable for this. The employee had failed to prove that he was suspended within the meaning of that term in section 186(2)(b) of the LRA.
The application was dismissed.
Related
Groundbreaking draft dismissal code to transform South Africa's workplace culture Jonathan Goldberg 22 Jan 2025 Rethinking retrenchments though collaboration and a combination approach John Botha 27 Dec 2024 Can employers withhold the pay of staff for working from home? Jacques van Wyk and Danelle Plaatjies 27 Nov 2024 Media24 says S189 will continue as it awaits Competition Commission ruling 15 Jul 2024 Why criminal records might not be an employment dealbreaker 22 Apr 2024 McKinsey restructures, 3% of workforce to go Danette Breitenbach 15 Apr 2024 Sibanye-Stillwater concludes consultations, shuts shaft to minimise job cuts Lindsey Schutters 23 Feb 2024 Condé Nast strike gains celebrity support as Anne Hathaway leaves photoshoot 24 Jan 2024
About Jonathan Goldberg
Jonathan Goldberg, Global Business Solutions