Archive for the ‘Law’ Category
by Simon on May 23rd, 2013
Consumer Law Unlocked author, Elizabeth de Stadler, has written about the impact of the Protection of Personal Information Bill on companies’ privacy policies.
De Stadler writes that she finds it “very difficult to see the point of overly legalistic privacy policies normally hidden behind a tiny link at the bottom of a webpage” and that the Bill is going to force a rethink of how policies are written, as the emphasis is going to be on keeping consumers informed instead of being on indemnifying businesses. She suggests some resources for businesses that are needing to redraft their policies:
Increasingly, I find it very difficult to see the point of overly legalistic privacy policies normally hidden behind a tiny link at the bottom of a webpage. The reason for this increased concern is of course the Protection of Personal Information Bill and the duties which it places on businesses who use (or for that matter just collect or store) personal information.
The Bill does not provide much direct guidance on the content of privacy policies per se. However, many of the bill’s obligations such as informing the consumer that personal information is being collected and the purpose for which personal information is required. This means that the emphasis is moving away from indemnifying the business to being transparent and keeping consumers informed.
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by Simon on May 21st, 2013
Cormac Cullinan, author of Wild Law, will be teaching a webinar on international and environmental law and global governance, along with Peter Brown.
The live webinar is free and can be accessed online on 22 May at 3PM UTC/GMT, you will need to have installed Adobe Flashplayer, have audio input and output, and a good internet connection.
On Wednesday, May 22nd at 3PM UTC/GMT, Earth Charter International and the EC Center for Education for Sustainable Development will be hosting a one and half hour webinar on international and environmental law and global governance with experts Peter Brown and Cormac Cullinan. These two leaders in their respective fields will put their work into context as well as relate the importance of the Earth Charter to their fields. Attendance is free for all and participation will be available through the chat function on our platform.
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by Simon on May 16th, 2013
Siber Ink and The Book Lounge take great pleasure in inviting you to the launch of Bar, Bench & Bullshifters: Cape Tales 1950 – 1990 by Gerald Friedman and Jeremy Gauntlett.
On Thursday 23 May at 5:30 PM for 6 PM, the authors will be sharing anecdotes with Professor Halton Cheadle.
See you there!
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by Simon on May 15th, 2013
Mineworkers at Lonmin in Marikana have embarked on a “wildcat strike”, reports Gia Nicolaides from Eyewitness News. Labour Law Rules! explains the legalities around strikes.
Nicolaides states that the murder of Mawethu Stevens, regional chairperson for AMCU, on Saturday has set off tension between AMCU and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM):
There were renewed fears of unrest in South Africa’s platinum belt with a wildcat strike at Lonmin’s Marikana Mine and union rivalry once again taking centre stage.
Thousands of Lonmin workers downed tools bringing operations at the mine to a halt.
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) regional chairperson Mawethu Stevens who was due to testify in the Marikana Inquiry was killed on Saturday.
Sarah Evans and Kwanele Sosibo from the Mail & Guardian have written about the factors leading to the strike:
“Turn and look at the mountain. Something is about to happen,” said one of the miners gathered at Wonderkop at Marikana on Tuesday afternoon. He stood near the koppie – the larger one – where many of the miners were killed in the Marikana killings in August 2012. He was one of thousands who returned to the scene of that crime on Tuesday.
Joseph Mathunjwa, President of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), speaks about job losses at Lonmin, saying that retrenching management who are taking home millions each year would cut the job losses in half:
Workers have embarked on a wildcat strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine.
Operations at 13 shafts have ground to a halt, as miners have refused to go underground.
It’s not clear why the workers have downed tools, but tensions have been rising, since a senior Amcu (Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union) official was murdered over the weekend.
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eBook: Labour Law Rules! by Mpfariseni Budeli, Ernest Manamela, Tukishi Manamela, Clarence Tshoose, edited by Marié McGregor, Adriette Dekker
eBook type: PDF
EAN: 9781920025489
Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
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by Simon on May 8th, 2013
The Licensing of Businesses Bill has been called a return to “apartheid-style” bureaucracy with every business, no matter how small, having to register with its local municipality.
Denis Worrall writes in an article for Polity that even hawkers could face extraordinary penalties for not complying, such as incurring a fine or imprisonment of up to ten years. Allowance has also been made for “any number of onerous requirements” to be added to the bill.
“The reasons offered for this bill simply do not add up,” Worrall says, as it will surely inhibit entrepreneurship.
Few pieces of legislation have drawn such fire as Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies’ Licensing of Businesses Bill – and with good reason. Contrary to some commentators’ view that it is a “useless” piece of legislation, it demands to be taken very seriously indeed.
For the benefit of our international readers we should explain that the bill requires the licensing of every business – yes, every business – in South Africa by the municipality in which it is based. The size and nature of the business does not matter, and the licensing process will obviously involve a massive increase in bureaucracy. Free Market CEO Leon Louw in Business Day describes the consequences: “Nothing, absolutely nothing, will escape the clutches of the bureaucracy which the bill will require. The country will be deluged by wall-to-wall apartheid-style bureaucrats, who will control everyone who supplies anything –from the little old lady selling corncobs under a tree, to foreign multinationals, from subsistence farmers with their donkey carts, to escort agencies, from part-time ballet teachers, to alternative theatre.”
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eBook: Labour Law Rules! by Mpfariseni Budeli, Ernest Manamela, Tukishi Manamela, Clarence Tshoose, edited by Marié McGregor, Adriette Dekker
eBook type: PDF
EAN: 9781920025489
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by Simon on May 7th, 2013
Legal expert Lenja Dahms-Jansen was interviewed for a Polity article on achieving a balance between “an employer’s rights to privacy, dignity and reputation against an employee’s right to freedom of expression,” when it comes to the use of social media in the workplace.
Dahms-Jansen advises that a clear-cut social media policy should be drafted and implemented by HR practitioners. An employee’s right to freedom of expression does not amount to “an unfettered right to defame others”. But at the same time, each case should be examined on its own merits and care should be taken not to breach the employee’s privacy rights as enshrined in the Regulation of Interception and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act.
As much as employers stand to benefit from the ease, speed and cost-effectiveness of social media, economic gains can be just as quickly lost on industrial and public relations crises, as well as litigation, where the use of social media is not properly managed.
According to Lenja Dahms-Jansen, associate at pan-African legal services group Bowman Gillfillan, “While social media may differ from traditional methods of business and marketing, its regulation in the workplace involves the same issues that HR practitioners grapple with on a daily basis, such as balancing an employer’s rights to privacy, dignity and reputation against an employee’s right to freedom of expression.”
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eBook: Labour Law Rules! by Mpfariseni Budeli, Ernest Manamela, Tukishi Manamela, Clarence Tshoose, edited by Marié McGregor, Adriette Dekker
eBook type: PDF
EAN: 9781920025489
Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
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by Simon on May 3rd, 2013
At a recent transformation indaba, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant made it clear that the country’s employment equity (EE) policy isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. At the indaba, which was held in Boksburg during April, Oliphant said that, “We have not yet arrived at the proverbial Jordan. Not by a long shot. A lot of work still needs to be done to create equitable and transformed workplaces, which are free from unfair discrimination”.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant said the policy towards implementation of Employment Equity (EE) in the workplace is here to stay, she told a transformation Indaba held in Boksburg, Gauteng today (April 18).
“There are those who are calling for a sunset clause on employment equity. But it is hardly soon. To make this call now is mischievous at best or at worst a callous disregard of history and its negative ramifications that will be felt way beyond the two decades of freedom.
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eBook: Labour Law Rules! by Mpfariseni Budeli, Ernest Manamela, Tukishi Manamela, Clarence Tshoose, edited by Marié McGregor, Adriette Dekker
eBook type: PDF
EAN: 9781920025489
Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
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by Simon on May 2nd, 2013
In an article for Polity, Ivan Israelstam writes that retrenchments are on the rise due to the economic down-turn, as well as crime and corruption, which deters foreign investors.
In light of the increased employee cut-backs, Istraelstam addresses certain “retrenchment myths” such as: “Employers are allowed to retrench merely because profits have dropped slightly or are expected to drop slightly” and “As long as the employer has a good reasons it can go ahead and retrench whenever it likes”.
For more on labour law and the procedures that need to be followed in the case of retrenchment, consult Labour Law Rules and CCMA: A commentary on the rules.
Already during 2009 we have received dozens of calls from employers who have retrenched employees and are being taken to the CCMA, bargaining council or Labour Court. As the current economic downturn has only just begun retrenchments are likely to spiral over the next year and beyond.
Exacerbating the effect of the economic downturn is the rampant culture of crime that our government only talks about addressing. In contrast to this ‘talk’ of addressing crime we have excessively high levels of violent crime and of corruption. We also have political leaders tainted with misdeeds and alleged misdeeds being allowed to run for election. These facts deter those foreign investors who might have considered bringing labour intensive projects to South Africa.
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eBook: Labour Law Rules! by Mpfariseni Budeli, Ernest Manamela, Tukishi Manamela, Clarence Tshoose, edited by Marié McGregor, Adriette Dekker
eBook type: PDF
EAN: 9781920025489
Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
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by Simon on Apr 26th, 2013
Dr Johan Erasmus from Deloitte SA has written a paper for Polity on the transition from the old Companies Act to the new one, which he says has been “(almost) smooth.”
The new Act has been in effect for the last two years and Erasmus looks at how it emphasises the responsibility of the directors. The New Companies Act Unlocked by Carl Stein offers an in-depth look at the Act.
The new Companies Act, 2008 (the Act) has now been effective for almost two years, and despite much anxiety and uneasiness about the quality of the legislation prior to its implementation, the transition from the old to the new Act can be described as (almost) smooth.
Responsibility of directors
A key feature of the new Act is that it clearly emphasises the responsibility and accountability of directors. By accepting their appointment to the position, the directors indicate that they will perform their duties to a certain standard, and it is a reasonable assumption of the shareholders that every individual director will apply his or her particular skills, experience and intelligence to the advantage of the company.
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by Simon on Apr 24th, 2013
Professor Tracy-Lynn Humby, from the Wits Law Department, spoke to Polity about the concept of resilience and how it influences environmental governance.
Humby explained that the term is used in South Africa’s climate change white paper but that its implications have yet to be unpacked. Humby spoke about the need to view social and ecological systems as being completely integrated and these systems as undergoing change and moving through cycles.
Cormac Cullinan’s Wild Law is a must-read for those interested in environmental law.
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