Dear reader

Our labour helpdesk is definitely one of the best benefits of being a subscriber to the Labour Law for Managers Loose Leaf service. I received this important question about employment contracts and thought I should share this with you.

Question
A large amount of my stock goes missing each month and this has a severe financial impact on the business.

I want to add a clause into my employment contracts stating "All stock values recorded as missing will be shared by the company and all the staff on a 50/50 basis". Thus if the value is R6 000 for the month, the company will carry R3 000 and the employees will share the other 50% at the end of the month.

Can I do this? If not, I'll have to close the business.

Within 72 hours, our labour expert answered this subscriber's question.

Answer
Your employees wouldn’t have to sign such an undertaking. It would be difficult for you to enforce it because you may not be able to prove all your employees were responsible for the stock loss. Employees who weren’t responsible may very well resist your attempt to make them pay for the losses.

Furthermore, Section 34(2) of the BCEA provides that you can deduct money from an employee’s remuneration to reimburse you for loss or damage only if the loss or damage was due to the fault of the employee and you followed a fair procedure and gave the employee a reasonable opportunity to show why you shouldn’t make the deduction etc.

You’d have to demonstrate that the employee was at fault for the loss and give him time to address the issue with you before you deduct the amount from his salary.

We advise you not to follow the route you propose in your circumstances.

Valuable and 100% legal advice

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Kind regards

Tracy King
Managing Editor - Labour Watch

P.S. If you order your Labour Law for Managers Loose Leaf binder today, you’ll get the free booklet: Say “You’re Fired!” And Make It Stick.

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