Dear Reader

I know I would! But an article I read yesterday really irked me!

The article from Legalbrief was about the ridiculous amount of money we taxpayers fork out to pay suspended public servants. This year alone, we’ve had to cough up R45m! That’s four times more than the amount paid out during 1999.

Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi said suspensions without pay would be in breach of the Labour Relations Act. He told the Cape Times newspaper that he’d introduce changes to disciplinary procedures aimed at limiting the number of precautionary suspensions, where officials are relieved of their duties pending the outcome of an investigation.

How much we’re actually coughing up…

I found this part of the article really interesting. Correctional Services had the highest number of suspensions, with 73 employees who cost taxpayers R7m, followed by the Justice Department, with 41 who were paid R6.4m. North West departments cost taxpayers the most at R4.3m, followed by the Free State (R3.5m), KZN and Mpumalanga (both R2.8m), Gauteng (R2.7m), Eastern Cape (R1.045m), Limpopo (R952 580) and Northern Cape (R598 940).

On that note…

The DoL’s Director General Jimmy Manyi has been suspended and even the Minister must make sure he follows the correct disciplinary procedure! Don’t give your employee or the CCMA any reason to question your conduct. Make sure your disciplinary procedure is correct. This month’s issue of Labour Watch uncovers the way you should discipline your employees to avoid being on the losing side at the CCMA.  

You can’t afford to miss the articles in this month’s issue:

• What would you do if you had a drunken sailor on your ship?
• Sack those lazy slackers… but do it right the first time!
• How to use 360 degree feedback to develop and retain your staff
• My boss doesn’t believe in issuing letters of employment… what should I do?
• Are you prepared for emergency situations? If not, you’re in contravention of Section 8 of the OHS Act

If you’re not a subscriber, can you confidently say you’ll get things 100% right? Sign up now and I’ll send you a copy of the newsletter free for a 28 day trial period.  You can see for yourself just how useful the information is. And as a bonus for being a subscriber, you can download sample templates and checklists to use.

The 1 October deadline is looming

"I need help to write an Equity Plan"
"I’ve just started at a new company. The company has a total staff compliment of 50. We’ve never submitted a report before.  Where do I start?"
"How do I know if the information I’m submitting is correct?"

Get the answers to these and other tricky employment equity questions at our EE workshop.

Ensure your goals are being met, or you’re contravening the EE Act and the DoL will come knocking at your door for the R500 000 fine!  

Email me (tracyking@fsp.co.za) and be the first to know when the bookings open. There’s a limited number of seats available… so you'd better hurry.

Until next time

Tracy King
Managing Editor - Labour Watch Newsletter