Labour Broking

The proposed changes to the Labour Relations Act (LRA) regarding labour brokers, or 'temporary employment services (TES)' to give them their official name, will make the option of using labour brokers a far less attractive one for employers (these changes are discussed at the end of this article). That's because they remove some of the perceived benefits of using labour brokers:  the ability to reduce labour costs, and the ability to avoid some of the onerous obligations of being an employer. But a recent decision of the Labour Court in Cape Town has shown that, irrespective of whether or not the changes become law, the courts are likely to examine the issue of labour broking  very closely in future.