Employment Law Service

Guiding you through your employment law and industrial relations requirements

Whether you are a listed corporate or an SMME, our Employment Law Service provides comprehensive advice on managing every aspect of an employee’s life cycle.

Our service will ensure that your workplace procedures comply with legislation, from recruitment and selection (incorporating your employment equity plan) to dismissal for misconduct, incapacity, or operational requirements.

We also assist with debarment matters, ensuring that a financial services provider’s debarments conform to the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act and the FSCA’s Guidance Notice 1 of 2019.

Our Employment Law Service has substantial transactional experience in all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment law, including:

• Handling high-profile restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions;
• Advising on sensitive settlement matters and exco disputes, collective bargaining disputes, corporate governance, and whistle-blower claims; and
• Day-to-day disciplinary and grievance matters.

Our specialists have international experience across the primary, manufacturing, service, and quaternary (education, research and development) sectors of the economy, as well as non-profit organisations.

Our services include:

• Chairing debarment proceedings on behalf of FSPs;
• Investigation and chairing of misconduct and incapacity hearings, together with drafting the outcomes;
• Assisting with the preparation of matters to appear at the CCMA, Bargaining Council or Statutory Council;
• Advising on misconduct and incapacity matters;
• Advising on and providing support with operational requirement matters;
• Advising on employment equity (EE), including drafting an EE plan, reporting thereon and identifying alternative action measures;
• Conducting industrial relations, EE statutory and best practice due diligence audits on existing contracts, policies and procedures;
• Downloadable standard employment agreements, codes, policies and procedures;
• Email, Teams and telephone support on industrial relations challenges;
• Webinar refresher training on the standard policies and procedures made available through our service offering (available at a higher cost for once-off purchasers);
• Facilitating training on all aspects of corporate employment law.
• Practical forms and guidelines to enable HR and managers to navigate day-to-day occurrences in the workplace (step-by-step guides on what to do and how to do it); and
• Webinar sessions for retainer clients (occurrence to be agreed upon with the client).

Packaged options

We offer seven unique packages that can be taken as standalone options, subscription models, or combined into a comprehensive employment law framework. Each package includes relevant templates, consultation time with our team, access to webinars and other training options.

Option A – Disciplinary Package

• Template: Disciplinary Policy, which talks to the substantive and procedural fairness requirements in terms of Item 8(1) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Template: Schedule of Offences, which serves as a guide for rehabilitative discipline (aligned with best practice).
• Templates of standard forms needed to help ensure procedural fairness in terms of Item 8(1) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal for Misconduct per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Monthly 30-minute session with an employment law specialist via a virtual platform.
• Access to our monthly employment law newsletter.
• Access for one person to CPD-accredited training on a disciplinary-related topic.

Option B – Incapacity / Poor Work Performance Package

• Template: Incapacity Policy, which talks to the substantive and procedural fairness requirements in terms of Item 8(9) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Templates of standard forms needed to help ensure procedural fairness in terms of Item 8(1) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal for Incapacity / Poor Work Performance per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Monthly 30-minute session with an employment law specialist via a virtual platform.
• Access to our monthly employment law newsletter.
• Access for one person to CPD-accredited training on an incapacity-related topic.

Option C – Incapacity / Ill Health Package

• Template: Incapacity Policy, which talks to the substantive and procedural fairness requirements in terms of Items 8(10) and (11) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Templates of standard forms needed to help ensure procedural fairness in terms of Item 8(1) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal for Incapacity / Ill Health per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Monthly 30-minute session with an employment law specialist via virtual platform
• Access to our monthly employment law newsletter.
• Access for one person to CPD-accredited training on an incapacity-related topic.

Option D – Probation Package

• Template: Probation clause to be included in the contract of employment.
• Template: Probation Policy, which talks to the substantive and procedural fairness requirements in terms of Item 8(8) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Probation per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Templates of standard forms needed to help ensure procedural fairness in terms of Item 8(1) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal for a failure to complete the Probation Period successfully per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Monthly 30-minute session with an employment law specialist via a virtual platform.
• Access to our monthly employment law newsletter.
• Access for one person to CPD-accredited training on a related

Option E – Compliance Contact Add-on Package

• Permanent Contract of Employment template.
• Recruitment template, which talks to the Employment Equity Act: Code of Good Practice: Integration of Employment Equity into Human Resource Policies and Practices (as amended).
• Templates of:
  • a probation clause to be inserted into the employment contract; and
  • standard forms needed to help ensure procedural fairness.
• Both settled with Item 8(1) of the Code of Good Practice regarding Dismissal for a failure to complete the Probation Period successfully per Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act (as amended).
• Monthly 30-minute session with an employment law specialist via a virtual platform.
• Access to our monthly employment law newsletter.
• Access for one person to CPD-accredited training on related topic.

Option F – Build Your Own retainer

• Included – several hours you need based on your commercial requirements:
• Day-to-day employment law advice, via email, telephone and a virtual platform; and
• Drafting of templates (agreements, policies, procedures, forms, and guidelines).
• Excluded – these matters will be dealt with on an ad hoc basis:
  • Restructuring procedures in terms of section189 of the Labour Relations Act;
  • Employment equity plans and reports, barrier analysis and committee matters;
  • Training sessions; and
  • Chairing of hearings (disciplinary, incapacity and/or probation).

Option G – Employment Equity at the Workplace Package

• Template: Mandate for Employment Equity Committee.
• Monthly 40-minute session – Introduction to Employment Equity at the Workplace training session via virtual platform
• Access to our monthly employment law newsletter.
• Access for one person to CPD-accredited training on an employment equity related topic.