Book Review: Contracts of Employment

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Citation: (2009) 20 Stell LR 362
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Pages: 362-363
• Author: Nadene L Badenhorst

Contracts of Employment 2 ed by Chris Todd & Talita Laubscher.

Siber Ink’s Must Know Series Tokai 2008. ISBN 9781920025168 199

pp. Price R230.00 (soft cover)

This book is a revised and updated ver sion of Chris Todd’s Contracts of

Employment, rst published in 2001. Like its predecessor, the book gives a

simple and understandable exposition of the legislative constraints on t he

employment relationship, including in part icular the Basic Conditions of

Employment Act 75 of 1997 (“t he BCEA”), which has been amended since

the rst publication of this book. The text reects t he legislation applicable as

at February 2008.

In the foreword to the second edition, Nerine Kahn (Director of the CCMA)

describes the pur pose and importance of this book as follows:

“The book is a most useful update on the law of contracts governing employment relationships.

Even if you consider yourself well-informed on issues of the rights and obligations in employment

law, you are likely to nd in this book useful and new commentary and information ... I am a strong

proponent of making our labour laws and the contracts governing employment relationships as simple

as possible. As jurisprudence develops, this becomes increasingly more difcult, but this work seeks

to do just that in a neat package”.

As such, the book is a valuable reference not only to students and legal

practitioners, but also to t rade unions, employers and employees alike.

The b ook is divided into twelve chapters. Each chapter concludes with a

“you must know” su mmary of the main poi nts made, followed by a short list

of applicable legislation, Codes of Good P ractice and instrume nts of interna-

tional for fu rther reference and read ing, as well as the case law applicable to

the contents of the chapter.

In C hapter 1, the essential cha racteristics of an employment contract are

examined. Chapter 2 relates to t he regulation of working hours by the BCEA,

and Chapter 3 to the leave provisions in t he BCEA. Chapter 4 discusses

the pa rticulars to be included i n a (written) contract of employment , and in

this regard elaborates on the mat ter of remune ration and t he circumstances

in which deductions from an employee’s wage are allowed. Chapte r 5 deals

with the termination of an employment contract and related matters, includ-

ing notice, payment, references a nd the like. In Chapter 6, the possibility of

variation of the basic conditions of employment, as provided for in the BCEA,

is discussed. C hapter 7 relates to the monitori ng and enforcement of the pro-

visions of the BCEA, also through legal proc eedings. Chapte r 8 considers

how execut ive contracts t ypically differ from other employment contracts,

before tur ning to condentiality and restraints of t rade in chapter 9. Chapter

10 briey explains the role of tra de unions in the employment relat ionship.

In chapter 11, t he legal position with regard to the changing of a contract

of employment is set out. Chapter 12 touches on a number of other Acts of

Parliament that have an impact on t he employment relationship.

Finally, the book incorporates a number of appendices, including the Codes

of Good Practice as to Who is an Employee, the Arrangeme nt of Working

Time, and the Protection of Employees During Pregnancy and After the Birt h

362 STELL LR 2009 2

(2009) 20 Stell LR 362

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