HR employees' perceptions regarding the changes in section 198B of the Labour Relations Act

Abstract

South Africa’s labour legislation has recently undergone momentous changes, in particular, the changes relating to section 198B of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) 66 of 1995. These amendments have proven to be more contentious than any other changes implemented by government in past years. The purpose of this study is to examine and outline the specific implications that the amendments to legislation regarding fixed-term contracts have on a pension and provident fund company in Gauteng, South Africa. This research will therefore highlight the implications (positive and negative) concerning the changes to section 198B on a pension and provident fund organisation in Gauteng, South Africa. The qualitative investigatory study was conducted with six employees of a pension and provident fund company which makes use of fixed term contract employees, until data saturation was reached. The data was collected by means of individual in depth interviews. The results of the study clearly indicate that the changes to section 198B will have both negative and positive implications. Some of the negative implications are that organisation have had to incur increased employment costs as a result of having to provide equal benefits and conditions of employment to all fixed term contract employees. Organisations now have to review the necessity of deploying fixed term contracts and where required to do away with such contracts. The implication here is that, the employment flexibility which organisations previously had has now been removed. Some of the positive implications are that, a few employees who had been on fixed term contracts were employed on a permanent basis after the changes came into effect. Employees experienced greater job security and were offered much needed benefits such as medical aid, pension and disability benefits. Permanent and fixed term contract employees are now treated equally. Part-time employees have better job security and the enhanced ability to enforce statutory rights in terms of equal treatment in employment by evoking enforcement mechanisms such as the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), labour courts and bargaining councils with jurisdiction to arbitrate matters.