Thrive HR

14/02/2022

* Application for must be made at anytime before or after childbirth, provided that the application shall be made within a period of 12 months after the date of childbirth
* Benefits are payable at a flat rate of 66% to a female contributor, for confinement or period of the child.
* Benefits that are payable is the difference between what the employer pays and the rate that is prescribed in the benefit schedule of the . When taking into account the amount paid by the employer and the amount prescribed in the benefit schedule, the total amount received should not exceed 100% of the normal remuneration that the person would have received if she remained in employment.
* Maternity benefits will be paid for a maximum of 121 days.
* Applications for maternity benefits does not affect the contributor’s right to .
* This means that the worker may still qualify to receive unemployment benefits should the worker becomes .
* Worker must have been employed for at least 13 weeks before the date of application for maternity benefits.

From DOL

08/02/2022

MEDIA RELEASE

08 February 2022

MINISTER THULAS NXESI ANNOUNCES 2022 NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES

Employment and Labour Minister, TW Nxesi, announces that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for each ordinary hour worked has been increased from R21,69 to R23.19 for the year 2022 with effect from 01 March 2022.

This announcement is in terms of Section 6 (5) of the NMW Act, No 9 of 2018, to amend the NMW contained in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of the National Minimum Act, published under Government Notice No. 44136.

As in previous years, the adjustment provides exceptions for several worker groups, including:

·Farmworkers are entitled to a minimum wage of R23.19 per hour;
·Domestic workers are entitled to a minimum wage of R23.19 per hour;
·Workers employed on an expanded public works programme are entitled to a minimum wage of R12.75 per hour;
·Workers who have concluded learnership agreements contemplated in section 17 of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No 97 of 1998), are entitled to allowances contained in schedule 2.

It is illegal and unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally change working hours or other employment conditions in order to implement the NMW. The NMW is the amount payable for ordinary hours of work and excludes payment of allowances (such as transportation, tools, food, or lodging), payments in kind (board or lodging), tips, bonuses, and gifts.

The Act of 2018 requires the NMW Commission to review the rates on an annual basis and make recommendations to the Minister on any changes to the national minimum wage, while also taking into account alternative viewpoints, including those of the general public.

The Commission considers the following factors when determining the annual adjustment: inflation, the cost of living, and the need to maintain the value of the minimum wage; gross domestic product; wage levels and collective bargaining outcomes; productivity; employers' ability to carry on their businesses successfully; the operation of small, medium, or micro-enterprises and new enterprises; and the likely impact of the recommended adjustment on employment or the creation of employment.

Employees earning more than R224 080,48 (two hundred and twenty-four thousand and eighty rand, forty-eight cents) per year are exempt from sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17(2) and 18(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) as of March 1, 2022. These sections protect vulnerable employees by regulating, among other things, working hours, overtime, and compressed schedules. working time, average hours of work, meals interval, daily and weekly rest periods, pay for work on Sundays, night work, and work on public holidays.

The Department has identified an error in the published BCEA gazette that incorrectly states the effective date as 1 March 2021; this error is currently being reviewed and will be corrected. The correct date of effect is 1 March 2022.

The tables for the adjustments to the Contract Cleaning, Wholesale and Retail sectors, and learnership allowances rates are available on the departmental website www.labour.gov.za

Media enquiries:

Petunia Lessing
Acting Chief Director: Communication
[email protected]

-ENDS-

View the National Minimum Wage in the Government Gazette
https://www.labourguide.co.za/workshop/2056-new-minimum-wages-effective-from-01-march-2022/file

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​...

31/01/2022

Please share!

- Ensure you take care of the following when writing a Curriculum Vitae (CV)

* It is well typed
* Easy to read
* On clean paper
* Use a modern font such as Helvetica or Lucinda Sans.
* Use 14 pt. letter type for headings, 12 pt. letter type for subheadings and 10 pt. for the body of the CV
* Use one side of paper only
* Keep it concise, but mention all your skills. Use bullets where you can
* Check for spelling and grammar errors (proofread a number of times to omit mistakes)
* Be truthful and reflect your skills and qualifications correctly and do not exaggerate. The employer will ask for examples of behaviour if you for example claim to be responsible
* Make a list of skills you have developed before you start typing your CV, this will help you to include all your skills
* Obtain permission from people you intend putting as references and their contact details
* Add certified copies of qualifications. The certification must have been done less than three months ago

From the Department of Labour*

19/01/2022

Watch out for the UIF bus in KZN

03/01/2022

Blessed 2022 to all our wonderful clients💜Read all about TERS below👇

09/11/2021

Did you know that the CCMA can assist you to enforce arbitration awards if you earn below the earnings threshold?

02/11/2021

Family responsibility leave

From SA labour guide

Firstly, only an employee who has worked for longer than four months with the same employer, and who is employed on more than four days per week with the same employer, qualifies for family responsibility leave.



This class of leave replaces what was in the past known as paternity leave, special leave, compassionate leave or any other name that it was known by.



Family Responsibility Leave now covers specific requirements - anything not mentioned in paragraph 27(2) does not qualify for family responsibility leave.



The provisions cover instances where:



the employee's child is born

the employee's child or adopted child is sick

the death of the employee’s spouse or life partner; the death of the employee's parent, adopted parent, grandchild, grandparent, or brother or sister.



Note that the employee only qualifies for family responsibility leave in cases of illness only if it is the employee's child or adopted child that is sick.



No other incident of illness is covered under the section - the illness of the employees spouse or life partner, the illness of his/her parent, grandparent, brother or sister, cousin, brother-in-law, mother in law, or anybody else is not covered under family responsibility leave. The employee must use annual leave for that purpose.



Similarly, the occasion of the death of a person only qualifies for family responsibility leave if the death is one of the persons named above. The death of any other relatively is not covered by family responsibility leave. Those occasions must be treated as annual leave.



This section also makes no provision for Family Responsibility Leave upon the adoption of a child – employees must use annual leave for that purpose.

01/11/2021

PAY FOR WORK ON SUNDAYS

Basic Conditions of Employment

16. Pay for work on Sundays



(1) An employer must pay an employee who works on a Sunday at double the employee’s wage for each hour worked, unless the employee ordinarily works on a Sunday, in which case the employer must pay the employee at one and one-half times the employee’s wage for each hour worked.



(2) If an employee works less than the employee’s ordinary shift on a Sunday and the payment that the employee is entitled to in terms of subsection (1) is less than the employee’s ordinary daily wage, the employer must pay the employee the employee’s ordinary daily wage.



(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), an agreement may permit an employer to grant an employee who works on a Sunday paid time off equivalent to the difference in value between the pay received by the employee for working on the Sunday and the pay that the employee is entitled to in terms of subsections (1) and (2).



(4) Any time worked on a Sunday by an employee who does not ordinarily work on a Sunday is not taken into account in calculating an employee’s ordinary hours of work in terms of section 9(1) and (2), but is taken into account in calculating the overtime worked by the employee in terms of section 10(1)(b).



(5) If a shift worked by an employee falls on a Sunday and another day, the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the Sunday, unless the greater portion of the shift was worked on the other day, in which case the whole shift is deemed to have been worked on the other day.



(6) (a) An employer must grant paid time off in terms of subsection (3) within one month of the employee becoming entitled to it.



(b) An agreement in writing may increase the period contemplated by paragraph (a) to 12 months.

22/10/2021

Did you know the BURDEN OF PROOF is always “he who alleges must prove" If you have been dismissed the onus rests with the employer to proof that you have been dismissed fairly.

SEC 192 of the LRA states in any proceedings concerning any dismissal, the employee MUST establish the existence of a dismissal
(2) if the dismissal is established the employer MUST proof that the dismissal was fair

19/10/2021

MEDIA RELEASE

2 September 2021

Department of Employment & Labour cautions job seekers of fraudulent job scam

The Department of Employment and Labour in Free State Province is cautioning the public of scammers posing as recruitment officials from the department.

The department has noted with concern the reports of scammers who are contacting aspirant work seekers and offering them fraudulent employment positions at a fee of R2 000.The fraudsters are targeting desperate job seekers and pretending to be recruitment officials working for the Department of Employment & Labour.

The scammers are taking advantage of the dire unemployment rate in the country and are luring scores of people who are in desperate need of jobs to parting with their last funds and the Department is appealing to everyone to be on the lookout.

The Department further wishes to inform the public that all recruitment is done in line with recruitment policies, in a fair and impartial manner. Under no circumstances are departmental officials selling job positions to the public.

Such acts in the name of the department are condemned.

The public is encouraged to report such acts by contacting the nearest Department of Employment and Labour offices, or report on Department's fraud hotline on 0860 022 194 or email – [email protected] .

For media enquiries contact:

Cebisa Siyobi
Provincial Communication: Free State
[email protected]


-ENDS-

18/10/2021

UASA Media Release: 08 October 2021

Unions to meet Sibanye-Stillwater at the CCMA to resolve dispute

Statement by Abigail Moyo, spokesperson of the trade union UASA:

UASA, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and Solidarity will attend their first mediation session with Sibanye-Stillwater – Gold Operations at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on 19 October 2021.

The CCMA intervention is to mediate the dispute about a mutual interest dispute (which will include picketing rules if an unresolved certificate is issued) between the unions and management in their wage negotiations dispute with Sibanye-Stillwater Gold Operations.

The four unions demand a wage increase of at least 7% or R1 500 for all workers while Sibanye-Stillwater Gold Operations tabled a mere R400 in year 1 for category 4-8 (surface and underground workers), R520 in year 2 and R540 in year 3. For artisans, miners and officials the mine offers a 3, 4% wage increase in year 1 and 4, 3% in year 2 and 3. This while Sibanye Stillwater gold Operations posted an interim profit of R25bn in the first half of 2021, beating its previous record of R21bn.

UASA views Sibanye-Stillwater Gold Operations willingness to negotiate with unions at the mediation facilitated by CCMA as a positive response. UASA questions Sibanye-Stillwater’s claims that the company didn’t generate enough profit from gold operations, yet production in South African local gold operations increased by 29% in the preceding six months,

compared to the same period in 2020. Sibanye Stillwater also recently announced its plan to develop uranium projects at its Beatrix West and Cook assets in South Africa as part of its expansion in to the “Green Metals Boom”.
Sadly, by not meeting a minimum wage demand Sibanye-Stillwater shows it does not care about the livelihood and wellbeing of its employees.

UASA is optimistically hopeful that Sibanye-Stillwater’s willingness to negotiate with the unions will produce positive results that will benefit employees and our members.

For further enquiries or to set up a personal interview, contact Abigail Moyo at 065 170 0162 .