About the Labour Law Academy

The Labour Law Academy has been established in order to provide comprehensive access to knowledge and skills regarding labour law and labour relations in South Africa. The prime aim is to help practitioners become professional, apply the principles of fairness and bring about industrial justice in South African workplaces.

The Labour Law Academy difference

What is so different about what the Labour Law Academy does, and why should you subscribe or register? The difference is this: The Labour Law Academy does not offer qualifications: it offers knowledge and skills.

Qualifications vs knowledge and skills

You could do a qualification with the many training providers out there which offer similar sounding material. Or you could even do a degree course at a tertiary institution.

But here is the issue: When I lectured the labour law course which is part of the LLB programme at a university this is what I found: students are required to follow material in ‘the book’. That material covered a wide range of information. Then students are tested and examined on the material. I found that both the students and the university were not interested in anything I told them that was not in the book, the usual question being: Is this is the test/ exam? So the result is that students learn like a parrot and do not learn to think. And what they learn is information, and only a tiny bit of that information is examined on and even the pass rate is 40%! They are not taught to think, or apply that information.

The same applies to the way training in labour relations is done- you attend a course on ‘chairing a disciplinary hearing’ and after that you are supposed to be able to go out and actually chair a hearing.

The Labour Law Academy does not offer qualifications: it offers knowledge and skills. By having a qualification whether from a university or training institution you are assumed to be able to actually do what you have been qualified in. But the reality is that the gap between a person with a qualification and a person with experience is massive.

In short ……..

The Labour Law Academy is unique, provides cost effective and immediate access to a comprehensive list of labour law topics. The content is properly researched, and conveyed in a practical and accessible way just when it is needed. The learning can be applied fairly and consistently by any party whether from the perspective of an employee, a union, an employer or chairperson or arbitrator.

Unique

At the click of a mouse…

The Labour Law Academy is unique because courses are available at the click of a mouse.

Access is just when you need it. Most training takes place either before the workplace incident or issue a Practitioner is faced with arises. Or after the training has taken place. In that case the probability is that just about everything learned at the training workshop has been forgotten!

On line platform

The Labour Law Academy is also unique because it uses an online platform. This means that one can stop, pause, rewind and repeat the training, something which is not possible to do in the usual training environment.

You can cover the material again -and again- in order to refresh and revive the knowledge and skills gained.

The training can be accessed by one or many employees and they can do so from their workstations. The courses can be done in easily achieved bite sized chunks as modules are no longer than 15 minutes, or in longer servings- it all depends on the time each employee can dedicate to the training.

All that is required is a computer and an internet connection- a printer may assist since the workbooks provided with each course may be printed out. All of this makes training cost effective. Finally, a record of the degree to which the knowledge and skills have been acquired by any student who has completed a course or programme can be accessed

Comprehensive

The knowledge and skill transferred are comprehensive in that all aspects of labour law will be covered. Check out the programmes which provides a list of all the areas and topics. These will be added during 2019.

Other consultants –let alone some legal firms- provide generalised training on common matters such as ‘chairing a disciplinary hearing’. The LLA provides information and training on specific issues which are required to chair a disciplinary hearing. These include how to deal with preliminary objections, postponement applications, and representation disputes as well as training in the law which makes up the particular allegation.

Unit standard aligned courses available in a packaged form from some training providers are usually generalised, often out of date, and often fail to represent best practice or the current legal situation.

Startup Business People Working on Laptop

Delivery

The training is delivered via a E-learning in order to facilitate immediate access to current information.

The advantage is that a practitioner who is asked, for example, to represent a fellow employee in a hearing who is charged with insubordination can find out what possible defences might be raised against this allegation.

All you do is search for the course on insubordination, and either download the article or do the short online course explaining the law regarding insubordination –or do both.

Perspectives

The courses are presented from both employer and employee/union point of view. A perusal of any article on which a course is based will show that this is the case.

In a learning environment it is often useful and helpful to give a manager the role of a shop steward, and a shop steward the role of a manager: perspectives change views.

The courses take into account the different contexts and forums in which the dispute may occur- an internal workplace disciplinary hearing, arbitration at the CCMA or bargaining council, or private arbitration. Mediation of workplace disputes regarding disputes around sexual harassment or bullying, and facilitation of retrenchment is also covered.

Representatives of parties, whether union or management, learn what they need to prove and how to do so.

The courses also explain how a chairperson or arbitrator should assess evidence.

Complex issues made practical

A great deal of labour law is complicated.

Why?

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, there is a history of training and advice given by persons who are neither qualified or experienced in labour law. Consultants give advice which is not based on legal principle or precedent but based on what will earn more fees. Union officials deal with a dispute between an employee and his employer as if it is the ground on which a socialist victory may arise instead of considering what the best interest of the employee is.

This is not always the case of course, but the fact is there is a great deal of misinformation and bad practice in the South African workplace. The training and information provided by LLA is aimed at providing a remedy to this situation.

The second reason is that there has been a general failure to educate South Africans in the principles of the Constitution. For that reason, the Constitution is given pride of place in this website, and an attempt is made to always refer back to the Constitution.

Flexible

The courses presented by the Labour Law Academy are flexible. A course can be done on a stand alone basis, or as part of a larger programme.

For example, a Practitioner such as an official of an employer organisation may wish to present evidence in an arbitration which has been illegally obtained. The Practitioner could access the short course on this form of evidence and learn how to present such evidence [or oppose the admission of such evidence] for that arbitration.

The Practitioner could also complete the program on the law of evidence- and access the short course afterwards to refresh his understanding.

Faith at Work

South Africa has the worst labour relations in the world!

One of the aims of the Labour Law Academy is to encourage and assist Christ Followers to change this. To that end, the LLA provides practical and gospel based tools to help integrate our faith with our work.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE LABOUR LAW ACADEMY NOW!

And you will get

One copy of all the books

PLUS Updates of all books during the calendar year of subscription.

AND

A 10% discount for all training courses whether for the subscriber OR employees in their organisation

A 10% discount for all webinars or workshops conducted by the LLA for the subscriber or one person from the organisation

A 15% discount for all internal workshops or training conducted for the subscriber or his/her organisation.

A reduced daily rate fee of R 8000 per day [normal rate is R 10 000/day] for all services

FOR ONLY R 800 PER MONTH FOR 12 MONTHS

R 8000 FOR 12 MONTHS SUBSCRIPTION

Click here to subscribe