South Africa: Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

The Constitutional Court has clarified a critical procedural question in South African labour law: must employees or trade unions pursue conciliation at the CCMA before approaching the Labour Court after a facilitated large-scale retrenchment fails?

The integrity of financial reporting depends heavily on the trustworthiness of the professionals who perform audits. When that trust is compromised from within, the consequences can be serious...

A South African court has delivered a decisive ruling on the limits of post-employment competition, finding that two senior employees unlawfully used their former employer's proprietary software, client relationships, and confidential information to launch a competing business. The judgment reinforces that fiduciary duties can extend beyond employment termination and that building a business on a former employer's investment constitutes unlawful springboarding rather than legitimate entrepreneurship.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa has delivered a significant, albeit divided, judgment in Maleka v Boyce N.O. and Others...

A recent ruling issued in favour of a client of Fairbridges provides helpful clarity on the purpose and limits of demarcation disputes in South African labour law.

The Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth, has published the Labour Law Amendment Bill, 2025, together with its Memorandum of Objects, for public comment (Government Gazette, 26 February 2026).

The Constitutional Court has ushered in a shift in the legal landscape of parental leave in South Africa.

In the landmark judgment of Van Wyk & Others v Minister of Employment and Labour, handed down on 3 October 2025, the Constitutional Court unanimously confirmed that the provisions...

The Constitutional Court has confirmed that South Africa's parental-leave regime in the BCEA unfairly discriminated between different kinds of parents and has ordered a temporary "reading-in"...