“I charge you by the law.” (William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice)
Law
Unlawfully forcing an employee to retire at “normal retirement age” could amount to automatically unfair age discrimination – and lead to the employer paying out a compensation order of two years’ earnings.
July is Mandela Month, giving us a perfect opportunity to talk about how the concept of ubuntu has impacted South African law.
As more and more couples elect to live together as life partners without formally marrying, our judicial system is increasingly faced with bitter disputes in the aftermath of failed relationships.
The tragic case of a mother killed in a car accident, and of the grandmother’s subsequent fight to have access to her young grandsons, illustrates our courts’ attitudes towards children having contact with their grandparents as well as with their parents.
We list the basic legal requirements for the validity of the restraint of trade clause.
“Buyer’s remorse” is a well-known phenomenon that’s led many a property buyer to cast around desperately for a means, any means, to escape the sale they’ve just tied themselves into. Be careful here – cancelling a sale without sound legal grounds will be a very costly mistake.
Not everyone knows that the verbal agreements we make every day are, with very few exceptions, every bit as valid and enforceable as formal written contracts.
Everyone knows about the very strong employee protections provided by our employment laws. But we aren’t all as clear on when an employer is legally justified in hiring someone on a fixed term contract basis rather than on the standard “permanent employee” basis.
A body corporate’s right and duty to collect levies from section owners, and to pursue those who fall into arrears, can be an onerous one.