Labour Welcomes Constitutional Court Ruling on Labour Brokers

Labour Departments DG welcomes Constitutional Court ruling on labour brokersThe Department of Labour welcomes the judgment by the Constitutional Court in the matter between Assign Service (Pty) Ltd, a temporary employment service agency, and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the CCMA, Commissioner Abdool Osman, Krost Shelving and Racking (Pty) Ltd and the Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO). The judgment provides clarity and certainty to an area that has been a matter for different interpretation of the law since the amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA) were promulgated in January 2015. The intentions behind the amendments to the Labour Relations Act were to regulate temporary work and what is commonly referred to as labour broking.

In particular, the amendments were aimed at the following:To introducing additional protections for vulnerable workers, that is, employees who earn on or below the threshold prescribed in section 6 (3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), andTo limit genuine temporary employment to a period of three months.To limit temporary employment to three months also carries the message that temporary employment services should be genuinely temporary.

The Constitutional Court judgment in the Assign matter has upheld and confirmed these objectives of the Labour Relations Act. It is worth quoting from the judgment on this point where it concludes as follows:hellipthe language used by the Legislature in section 198A (3)(b) of the LRA is plain.

And, when interpreted in context, it supports the sole employer interpretation. It certainly is also in line with the purpose of the 2014 Amendments, the primary object of the LRA, and the right to fair labour practices in section 23 of the Constitution.

The Constitutional Court judgment has also confirmed the correctness of Commissioner Osmans...