If It Ain't Broker...

New clarification regarding employment via labour brokers aids understanding around responsibility for payment and other issues

- Yolandi Esterhuizen

On 26 July this year, the Constitutional Court clarified that organisations are deemed to be the employer of workers they accessed through labour brokers after those employees have been employed at their workplace for more than three months.

The change does not necessarily impact your payroll. The ruling is applicable only to matters that relate to the Labour Relations Act and does not affect other employment-related legislation such as the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), the Employment Tax Incentive Act and others. As such, if your labour broker pays the employees, it will continue to be responsible for paying the employee and withholding PAYE unless you specifically change that arrangement.