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Chapter 8 - Labour Law

Unfair labour practices

What is an unfair labour practice?

The Labour Relations Act (LRA) prohibits unfair labour practices. An unfair labour practice is any unfair act or omission at the workplace, involving:

• unfair conduct of an employer relating to the promotion or demotion or probation of an employee
• unfair conduct relating to the provision of training of an employee
• unfair conduct relating to the provision of benefits (for example, pension, medical aid, etc) to an employee
• unfair disciplinary action against an employee (short of a dismissal). For example, a final written warning or unfair suspension)
• the refusal to reinstate or re-employ a former employee in terms of any agreement. For example, a retrenchment’
• an occupational setback in contravention of the Protected Disclosures Act (No 26 of 2000) because an employee has made a protected disclosure defined in that Act. For example, an employee is denied overtime because he made a disclosure in terms of the ‘Disclosure of Information Act’

The section relating to unfair discrimination against an employee in the LRA has been transferred to the Employment Equity Act (No 55 of 1998) (EEA) and is therefore no longer defined as an unfair labour practice in the LRA. The EEA lists the grounds for non-discrimination in the workplace and describes the steps that a person can take if they believe they have been discriminated against on any of the listed grounds.

What steps can be taken if an unfair labour practice is committed?

This various steps or processes involved in sorting out an unfair labour practice are dealt with further on in this section in datail.

Essentially, the dispute over the unfair labour practice must be referred within 90 days of the alleged unfair labour practice being committed (to the CCMA or Bargaining Council).

See Solving disputes under the LRA