Fixed-term contracts have a start and an end date. Upon the expiry of a fixed-term contract and where there is no prospect of renewal, employees sometimes institute claims in an attempt to avoid the fixed termination date.
The Labour Court in the attached judgment, essentially confirmed that the duration of the employment was a term of employment and the re-deployment was within that term.
The lesson for employers is to ensure that re-deployments that are not meant to result in new contracts of employment are specifically expressed as falling within the existing terms and conditions of employment. National Union of Mineworkers obo Mabote v CCMA (2013) 34 ILJ 3296 (LC).
