Unloading the Judicial System in Kazakhstan? Alternative Ways of Resolving Individual Labour Disputes

The purpose of the study is to develop proposals for the modernization of the judicial form of protection of social and labour rights and interests of the individual. We are testing the hypothesis about the priority and universality of the judicial form of protection of rights in relation to other ways of applying for the restoration of violated labour interests; we assess access to justice as a criterion for the effectiveness of the judicial form of protection. The main method is a desk study of law enforcement practice, reports related to the functioning in Kazakhstan of a judicial form of protection of the social and labour rights of an individual, also the method of analysis of documents and statistical data of courts, a survey of examples of the best foreign practice in the work of specialized courts, and an analysis of international universal standards of access to justice in social and labour disputes.

BREACH OF THE IMPLIED DUTY TO PRESERVE MUTUAL TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN AN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF Moyo v Old Mutual Limited (22791/2019) [2019] ZAGPJHC 229 (30 July 2019)

This case note is intended to revisit the contentious aspect of the implied duties of South African labour law in the individual employment relationship. Significantly, the case note intends to remind the reader about the importance of adhering to certain implied duties in the contract of employment. In this regard, the implied duty to preserve mutual trust and confidence is the central theme of this case note. On the one hand, the implied duty to safeguard mutual trust and confidence imposes an obligation upon the employer to conduct itself in a manner not likely to destroy, jeopardise, or seriously damage the trust relationship and confidence in the employment relationship. On the other hand, this implied duty is becoming a significant yardstick used by employers to address contractual labour disputes in South Africa. In order for an employer to invoke this implied duty, it must be expected that the employee would have to conduct him or herself in a manner likely to demonstrate to his employer loyalty, good faith and cooperation.Against this background, the recent case of Moyo v Old Mutual (22791/2019) [2019] ZAGPJHC 229 (30 July 2019) (Moyo) demonstrates the impact of a breach of the implied duty to preserve mutual trust and confidence on the employment relationship. This case note intends to examine the implied obligation that rests upon the employer to safeguard trust and confidence in the relationship. The case note further reflects on the implied duty of employees to safeguard and protect mutual trust and confidence. After all, trust forms the basic fundamental core of the employment relationship, and any breach of this duty is likely to result in an irretrievable breakdown of the employment relationship. Once there is a breakdown of trust and confidence, it remains a mammoth task to restore the relationship.

Collective redress and workers’ rights in Slovenia

In 2017, the Collective Actions Act introduced a new type of lawsuit – the collective action – into the Slovenian legal order. A collective action can be lodged in cases of instances of so-called ‘mass harm’, including mass violations of workers’ rights. This could improve the effectiveness of enforcement of workers’ rights in practice. Instead of a number of individual labour disputes concerning the same or similar violations of workers’ rights, a collective action can be lodged by trade unions or other representative collective actors in this field. Both opt-in and opt-out approaches are possible and the decision on this is left to the discretion of the court. Despite many positive aspects, only one collective action in the area of labour rights has been lodged to date. In this contribution I analyse legal regulation of the existing collective redress mechanism and possible reasons for deficiencies discerned in its functioning in practice.

THE JURISDICTION OF THE LABOUR COURT IN INTERNATIONAL EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS IN RESPECT OF WORKPLACES OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA

Does the Labour Court have jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between a South African employer and a South African employee where the employee performs work for the employer in a foreign country? This is a question that should be considered, as one effect of globalisation is that South African employees are increasingly working for South African employers outside of South Africa. The difficulty is that the answer to the question is to be found in the area of private international law (conflict of laws) and that very few labour disputes involving private international law have been decided by South African courts. In 2002 in Kleynhans v Parmalat SA (Pty) Ltd (2002 9 BLLR 879 (LC)) and in 2005 in Parry v Astral Operations Ltd (supra) the Labour Court held that it did have the necessary jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes where the workplace was outside South Africa, provided that certain requirements are met. However, in Astral Operations Limited v Parry (2008 29 ILJ 2668 (LAC)) the Labour Appeal Court overturned the decision of the Labour Court. Zondo J reasoned that both the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act do not have extra-territorial application in terms of the presumption against extra-territoriality and that, as the workplace was outside South Africa, the Labour Court, which was created by these two acts, did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter. In this article I shall briefly discuss the four-stage private international law process of adjudication that should be followed in disputes where international employment contracts are involved. After that I shall discuss the judgments in Parry v Astral in the Labour Court and the decision in AstralOperations v Parry in the Labour Appeal Court as well as the effect of this decision. This will be followed by a discussion of the position regarding the jurisdiction of courts and tribunals adjudicating international employment disputes in the European Union, the United Kingdom and in Ontario, Canada. In conclusion, the judgment of the Labour Appeal Court in Astral Operations v Parry will be examined in the light of the constitutional right to fair labour practices and the necessity for employees to be protected in a globalised employment context in which multi-national enterprises operate across borders.

Labour disputes on pay

In this article, we will understand what pitfalls the employer may face in terms of pay and how to avoid them.

Assessment of Applying Saudi Labour Law to Digital Platform Workers: Taking Uber as an Example

The use of technology platforms has become quite common and popular worldwide. Some of these platforms have used for business purpose such as connecting taxi drivers with riders or providing delivery services. At present, there are famous institutions employing persons to provide their services through digital platforms, and in some states, such persons are considered workers. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is significant to find a direct answer to whether or not persons using digital labour platforms to offer services could be regarded as workers, and the Saudi Labour Law must, or not, be applied to govern their contracts with the enterprises that own these platforms. This paper aims to find a legal solution to this issue and concentrates on digital platform workers in Saudi Arabia. It examines mainly legal sources relating to Saudi Labour Law such as books, and investigates a number of reported judgments issued by the Commission for the Settlement of Labour Disputes in Saudi Arabia in 2010 and 2011.It also reviews relative information provided on the web sites of Uber. The finding is that the traditional rules of Saudi Labour Law should apply to these types of work agreements, and persons rendering their services through digital platforms must be protected by the rules established in the Law, but, according to the recent provisions adopted by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, it seems that they are considered as freelancers. Received: 4 March 2021 / Accepted: 6 May 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

Unmasking merger problems from employees’ perspectives: A case of the disestablished Aganang Local Municipality, South Africa

Background: Aganang Local Municipality (ALM) was disestablished, and its municipal area was amalgamated into Blouberg Local Municipality, Molemole Local Municipality and Polokwane Local Municipality on 03 August 2016. The municipality was disestablished with a view to optimise the financial viability of municipalities in the Capricorn District Municipality. This development brought about challenges in a variety of areas as the move meant merging of the disestablished municipality to the other three municipalities.Aim: This article explored the underlying human resources management problems that emanated from the disestablishment of ALM. The guiding question for this article was what are some of the salient human resource management challenges that emanated from ALM’s disestablishment? In addition, what lessons can be drawn for future municipal disestablishment exercises?Setting: The setting for this study was the Polokwane Municipality, South Africa.Methods: A qualitative approach, with interviews being the major data-collecting instrument, was applied.Results: A key finding of this study is that there is a general dissatisfaction among staff from Aganang Municipality who were moved to Polokwane Municipality (PM) because of disparities in remuneration between them and their counterparts working for PM.Conclusion: A major recommendation proffered in this article is that all human-resource-related issues need to be ironed out with staff members of the disestablished municipality before they are moved to other municipalities. This assists in minimising labour disputes in the merging process.

Some questions on the law on the state of emergency

The article analyses two provisions of the Law on Measures and Actions in the State of Emergency, declared with the decision of the National Assembly of 13th March 2020, providing for suspension and extension of time periods provided in the legislation. The analysis is focused on examples based on the review of the labour legislation. The issue of suspended court proceedings on some labour disputes – until the end of the state of emergency – is also discussed.

USMCA labour provisions to define North America trade

Significance US President Joe Biden’s trade representative Katherine Tai was central to creating the USMCA’s labour provisions, and Biden has made enforcing them a priority in his trade agenda. Labour disputes over workers’ rights to unionise could lead to goods from targeted firms being blocked at the border. Impacts Once a first labour dispute sets a precedent, the number of cases against Mexico is likely to rise. Firms in Mexico will have a growing incentive to respect freedom of association, facilitating the Mexican government’s current reforms. USMCA wage requirements will force firms to reorganise their supply chains or pay tariffs. Restrictions on Mexico launching RRM action may prompt it to tackle disputes through the lengthier ‘state-to-state’ dispute mechanism.