Page 11 - DRG HR HANDBOOK- Nikita Pillay

VARIATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

CONTRACTS AND RELATIONSHIPS

temporary work on set projects that have specific
end points?
ƒ Does the company pay the employee hourly, weekly
or monthly? Or does the independent contractor
just get paid once an entire project is complete?

ƒ Travel costs. These are usually covered by the
company. Independent contractors however, pay
their own travel costs (and earn enough on the overall
project that those costs end up being covered by the
fee they’re paid).

PERMANENT / FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT
CONTRACT

A permanent employment contract is an indefinite
contract, whereby there is no termination date
stipulated, and where an employee is taken on by a
company until the employee no longer wishes to work
there or the contract ends in a termination of some sort,
such as a dismissible misconduct, or for operational
reasons. This type of employee is entitled to all forms of
benefits provided by the specific organisation for which
he works.

FIXED-TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

One of the most important changes to the Labour
Relations Act (the Act), which came into effect on
1 January 2015 is the added protection afforded to
employees on Fixed Term Contracts.

A fixed term employee is employed for a determined
period of time. A contract of employment for a determined
period of time has an agreed date of termination, being
either a specific calendar date or the occurrence of a
specific event (project).

Usually, a fixed term contract of employment can
be for any period of time. However, if an employee is
compensated under the legal threshold, labour law
limits such a period to 3-months.
The 3-month period may only be extended if there is a
justifiable reason for doing so, for example:

ƒ Replacing an employee that is temporarily absent
(maternity leave). 11