LABOUR LAW GLOSSARY

1. Individual labour law: the law that regulates the relationship between an individual
employee and an individual employer
2. Collective labour law: the law that regulates the relationship between a group of employees
(trade union) and an employer or employers (employers’ organisation)
3. Employee: any person, excluding an independent contractor, who works for another person or
for the State and who receives or is entitled to receive, any remuneration; and any other person
who in any manner assists in carrying on or conducting the business of an employer
4. Fixed-term employee: an employee whose contract of employment terminates on the
occurrence of a specified event, completion of a task or project or a fixed date other than an
employee’s normal or agreed retirement age
5. Part-time employee: an employee who is remunerated by reference to the time that the
employee works, and who works less than a comparable full-time employee
6. Employer: any person/body which employs any person in exchange for remuneration and any
person who permits any person to assist her or him in conducting business
7. Labour broker/ Temporary employment service: any person who for reward,
procures for or provides to a client other persons who render services to, or perform work for,
the client; and who are remunerated by the temporary employment service
8. Independent contractor: a person contracted to perform a specified task or produce a
specific result
9. Contract of employment: is an agreement between an employee and an employer in terms
of which the employee places his or her personal services or labour potential at the disposal or
under the control of the employer in exchange for some form of remuneration
10. Restraint of trade clause: a clause included in a contract of employment to protect the
employer’s goodwill and customer connections for a specified period and within a specified area
after leaving employment
11. Vicarious liability: the holding of an employer liable for the unlawful or delictual acts of an
employee performed during the course or scope of business
12. Terms and conditions of employment: express or stated terms agreed by the employer
and employees as well as those implied by practice, the law or collective agreements
13. Severance pay: pay which an employee receives from the employer when dismissed for
operational reasons which is equal to at least one week’s remuneration for each completed year
of continuous service with the employer
14. Ministerial determination: a determination made by the Minister of Labour to replace or
exclude any minimum standard provided for in the BCEA in respect of employees or any
categories of employers
15. Sectoral determination: a determination which establishes basic conditions of employment
for employees in a sector and an area
16. Differentiation: discrimination based on acceptable reasons such as expertise and skills
17. Discrimination: differentiation based on an unlawful ground such as race and age
18. Direct discrimination: a differentiation or distinction between employees which is clearly
based on one or more grounds listed in the EEA
19. Indirect discrimination: it occurs where an employer applies a rule or policy that looks
neutral to all employees but the application of that rule has disproportionate effect on a certain
group of employees
20. Inherent requirements of a job: the physical requirements of the job that make it
necessary for employees to have certain physical characteristics
21. Affirmative action: a measure to be applied by designated employers to ensure that suitably
qualified people from designated groups have equal employment opportunities and are equitably
represented in all occupational levels in the workplace of those employers
22. Sexual harassment: unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that violates the rights such as
dignity and privacy of an employee, that constitutes a barrier to equity in the workplace and is
based on sex or gender or sexual orientation
23. Designated employers: an employer who employs 50 or more employees, or has a total
annual turnover as reflected in Schedule 4 of the Act, municipalities; organs of state and those
appointed as designated employers in terms of a collective agreement
24. Designated groups: the groups which are to benefit from affirmative action such as black
people, women and people with disabilities
25. Unfair labour practice: any unfair act or omission that arises between an employer and an
employee involving unfair conduct by the employer relating to the promotion, demotion,
probation or training of an employee or the provision of benefits to an employee; the unfair
suspension of an employee; a failure to reinstate or re-employ a former employee in terms of an
agreement and occupational detriment on account of the employee having made a protected
disclosure
26. Constructive dismissal: termination of an employment contract by the employee with or
without notice because of actions or omissions of the employer
27. Substantive fairness of a dismissal: the reason which must exist to make a dismissal fair
28. Procedural fairness of a dismissal: the procedure which must be followed to make a
dismissal fair
29. Automatically unfair dismissal: a dismissal which the employer cannot defend by proving
that it was for a fair reason
30. Dismissal for misconduct: the dismissal of an employee due to the contravention of a rule
or standard regulating conduct in or of relevance to the workplace
31. Dismissal for incapacity: the dismissal of an employee due to his or her failure to meet the
standard of performance required by the employer
32. Dismissal for operational requirements: the dismissal of employees due to economic,
technological, structural or similar needs of an employer
33. Right to freedom of association: the right of employees or employers to form, join or
take part in activities of trade unions or employers’ organisations
34. Union security arrangements: closed shop agreements and agency shop agreements
35. Closed shop agreement: a collective agreement concluded between a representative trade
union and an employer or employer’s organization requiring all employees covered by the
agreement to be members of the trade union
36. Agency shop agreement: a collective agreement concluded between a representative trade
union and an employer or employer’s organization requiring the employer to deduct an agreed
agency fee from the wages of employees identified in the agreement who are not members of
the trade union but are eligible for membership thereof
37. Organizational rights: the rights which are granted to trade unions to enable them to
establish and maintain a strong presence in the workplace in order to establish a collective
bargaining relationship
38. Majority representation: the representation by a trade union of the majority of employees
in a workplace
39. Sufficient representation: the representation by a trade union of a sufficient number of
employees, which is less than half the number of employees in a workplace
40. Collective bargaining: is a process whereby employers (employers’ organisation) bargain
with employee representatives (trade unions) about terms and conditions of employment and
other matters of mutual interest
41. Collective agreement: a written agreement concerning terms and conditions of employment,
or any other matter of mutual interest, concluded by one or more registered trade unions on the
one hand and, on the other hand– one or more employers; one or more registered employers’
organisations; or one or more employers and one or more registered employers’ organisations
42. Trade union: an association of employees whose principal purpose is to regulate relations
between employees and employers, including employers’ organisations
43. Employers’ organisation: any number of employers associated together for the purpose,
whether by itself or with other purposes, of regulating relations between employers and
employees or trade unions
44. Workplace forum: an in-house institution intended to deal with non-wage-related issues in
the workplace
45. Consultation [for purposes of a workplace forum]: a process through which the
employer allows the forum to make representations and to advance alternative proposals and
considers and responds to them
46. Joint decision making [for purposes of a workplace forum]: a process through which
the employer consults and reach consensus with a forum
47. Strike: the partial or complete concerted refusal to work, or the retardation or obstruction of
work, by persons who are or have been employed by the same employer or by different
employers, for the purpose of remedying a grievance or resolving a dispute in respect of any
matter of mutual interest between the employer and employees
48. A primary strike: the main strike by employees who have a dispute with their employer
49. A secondary strike: the strike by employees of another employer (secondary employer) with
a link with the primary employer, who have no dispute with their employer, but with the purpose
of supporting the strike by employees of the primary employer (primary strike)
50. Lock-out: the exclusion by an employer of employees from the employer's workplace, for the
purpose of compelling the employees to accept a demand in respect of any matter of mutual interest
between employer and employee, whether or not the employer breaches those employees'
contracts of employment in the course of or for the purpose of that exclusion
51. Issue in dispute: the demand, the grievance or the dispute that forms the subject matter of
the strike or lock-out
52. Essential services: a service the interruption of which endangers the life, personal safety or
health of the whole or any part of the population and also includes the Parliamentary Service
and the South African Police Service
53. Maintenance services: a service the interruption of which has the effect of material
physical destruction to any working area, plant or machinery
54. Picketing: a peaceful action by striking employees to encourage non-striking employees and
members of the public to oppose a lock-out or to support a protected strike
55. Protest action: the partial or complete concerted refusal to work, or retardation or
obstruction of work, for the purpose of promoting or defending the socio-economic interests of
workers