Temporary Employment Services: An Important Decision

Amendments to the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 ("LRA"), which came into force in January of this year, introduced important and controversial provisions dealing with temporary employment services ("TES"), commonly known as labour brokers.

The most important of these provisions is found in the newly-enacted section 198A. It makes a distinction between what can be regarded as the "acceptable" use of a TES services and the "unacceptable" use of its services. Acceptable use is described as the provision of a "temporary service" and is defined as the following, namely if:

• a TES employee is assigned to a client for a period of less than three months;
• a TES employee is assigned to a client as a substitute for an employee who is temporarily absent from work;