Whither employment (and labour law)?

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Whither employment (and labour law)?

Authors Abigail Osiki & Nicola Smit

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: LLB (Ibadan) LLM PhD (Cape Town). Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Canterbury; Research Fellow, Department of Mercantile and Labour Law, University of the Western Cape; BLC LLB (Pretoria) LLD (Johannesburg). Professor of Law and Dean, Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 49-88
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a3

Abstract

The legal and economic world for which labour law was traditionally designed has largely disappeared in the twenty-first century. Although the goals and purposes of labour law have not changed, it is in danger of becoming obsolete for most working people as employment, work and workplaces have undergone fundamental shifts. This contribution considers the changes that have occurred in the world of work and their impact on labour law and regulation by asking what status employment or work should carry in the future to improve the dignity, rights and autonomy of those who need them most. In considering the past and present iterations of employment (and labour law), while considering future adaptation, the following aspects are considered: the changing nature and scope of employment, collective rights and related concepts, the implications of such changes, emerging collaboration between different fields of law and policy, and recommendations for regulation to ensure the continued influence of labour law and its associated legal constructs (such as ‘work’).

Is the common law of employment up to the task of regulating the world of work, today and into the future?

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Is the common law of employment up to the task of regulating the world of work, today and into the future?

Authors Dennis Davis & Chris Todd

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: BCom LLB (Cape Town) MPhil (Cantab). Former Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court; Honorary Professor of Law, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape and University of the Witwatersrand; BA(Hons) (Cape Town) BA (Oxon). Partner, Bowmans
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 89-135
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a4

Abstract

This article examines how the common law regulating employment has developed over the past three decades. It reflects on the most significant cases dealing with contracts of employment during that period and how the law has evolved through those cases. While our common law of employment remains closely linked to Roman-Dutch law, the impact of the introduction of statutory protection for employees and the judicial interpretation of the scope and application of employment statutes has, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, rendered the common law less flexible than the system that Roman lawyers devised in a very different context. The article assesses whether the common law has the tools that it needs to respond to a rapidly changing world of work, and examines how employment statutes have, in effect, operated to tether the common law and have been interpreted in a manner that inhibits further development of the common law. Looking forward, the article assesses what changes in statutory regulation may be necessary or most effective to ensure that constitutionally supported employment protections and minimum standards, which broadly reflect twentieth century global consensus, remain relevant in the future, in the world in which South African citizens are most likely to find themselves working over the next three decades. The article identifies a significant disjuncture between current legal regulation and the reality of evolving working relationships under an increasingly wide variety of contracts and forms of work. Global instruments regulating the world of work are in a state of rapidly evolving transition. The article suggests that the South African legislature needs to follow suit, or it may find activist judges stepping in to fill the void.

Effective workplace dispute resolution for the future

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Effective workplace dispute resolution for the future

Authors Alan Rycroft & Christopher Albertyn

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: BA (Rhodes) LLB (Natal) LLM (London). Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town; BA (Hons) (Witwatersrand) B.Proc (UNISA) LLB (Natal). Arbitrator and mediator, principally in Ontario, Canada
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 136-178
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a5

Abstract

An efficient and cost-effective dispute system was a key aim in the drafting of the Labour Relations Act in 1994. In this contribution we consider whether this aim has been achieved. We look separately at the internal disciplinary process, CCMA arbitrations, the labour courts and the Constitutional Court. We include comparative insights from Canada. Looking ahead, we consider possible dispute resolution mechanisms in four diverse areas: AI and mediation, platform workers, workers in the informal economy, and supply chain disputes. Through this review we make suggestions for the way forward.

Whither dismissal law?

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Whither dismissal law?

Authors Rochelle le Roux & Peter le Roux

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: BJuris LLB (Port Elizabeth) LLM (Stellenbosch) PGDip (Employment Law and Social Security) (Cape Town) LLM (Anglia Ruskin) PhD (Cape Town). Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town; BJuris (Rand Afrikaans) LLM (South Africa) LLM (London) Executive Consultant at ENSafrica
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 178-212
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a6

Abstract

The 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) provides a useful opportunity for reassessing the dismissal law established by the Act. This article examines the state of dismissal law with reference to three key features: the labour dispute resolution regime created by the LRA; the role of the common law in dismissal matters; and the current legislative location of dismissal based on unfair discrimination. The article also questions the continued validity of some of the modalities in the LRA supporting these features. While concluding that there is nothing wrong with the fundamentals of current dismissal law, both in respect of its treatment of substantive and procedural fairness, and in respect of the dispute resolution model that supports it, the article argues that the changing nature of employment and the pressures on the dispute resolution institutions created by the LRA require a change to some of the modalities of dismissal law. Taking a long view – 30 years – of dismissal law, the article makes tentative proposals that might make dismissal law more agile and responsive to the changing nature of employment.

Through the lens of an idealist: Imagining the position of strike law in South Africa by the year 2055

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Through the lens of an idealist: Imagining the position of strike law in South Africa by the year 2055

Author Mlungisi Tenza

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: LLB LLM LLD (South Africa); Associate Professor, School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 213-242
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a7

Abstract

The Constitution guarantees workers the right to strike. Workers use strike action as a bargaining tool when employers fail to meet their demands or address their grievances in the workplace. The right to strike and the strike itself have helped workers to achieve various things in the workplace, including improved working conditions and increased wages. Exercising the right to strike has resulted in not only positive acts that benefit workers, but also in the loss of employment through retrenchments due to protracted strikes; in addition, many workers have lost their lives due to strikes becoming violent. The struggle to liberate workers from the shackles of poverty, inequality, the ever-increasing rate of unemployment and differences in pay continues. This means that the weaponry of strike action is still necessary if South Africa wants to address the plight of workers. This article examines whether the law relating to strikes in the next 30 years will still be relevant in the labour relations environment in South Africa. I argue that strikes are becoming less popular, and very few workers or employees will continue to use them due to changes in the way that business is conducted. This is further affected by the increasing use of technology, including the introduction of gig work and apps to perform work. In addition, trade unions usually convene strikes and recruit people who are in formal employment; however, by 2055, the number of people joining unions will have decreased as few people will be in formal employment. Workers will mostly rely on the internet to voice their grievances against employers, and the latter, fearing reputational damage, may succumb to employee demands. This will have the same outcome as if workers were to go on strike. The result will be a situation where an individual worker and their employer will decide on their terms and conditions of work. The employer alone will decide on wage increases or other matters affecting workers, because collective bargaining will play a less important role.