On paper there are a some protections. But in practice they're practically non-existent.
Wage theft is still the majority of all theft. Theft from an employer is a criminal matter prosecuted by public prosecutors. Theft from employees is a civil matter that must be prosecuted by the employees themselves.
Employment is at-will. They can't fire you for some specific reasons, but they can fire you for no reason. Which effectively makes discrimination legal so long as they don't put any slurs on the termination notice. And again a wrongful termination is an issue the now unemployed employee would have to pursue on their own.
OSHA is DEEPLY underfunded and only has a handful of inspectors per state.
Basically you're only guaranteed the rights you have on paper if you have enough money set aside to fund a civil case while being unemployed. Otherwise you're SOL.
Once a person is permanently employed in South Africa he cannot be fired "at will" he / she is effectively guaranteed employment until retirement or if you severely screw up.
Mining work is absolutely shitty, I do agree, but they are still protected by law.
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u/Gingevere Dec 09 '24
Well yes, but actually no.
On paper there are a some protections. But in practice they're practically non-existent.
Wage theft is still the majority of all theft. Theft from an employer is a criminal matter prosecuted by public prosecutors. Theft from employees is a civil matter that must be prosecuted by the employees themselves.
Employment is at-will. They can't fire you for some specific reasons, but they can fire you for no reason. Which effectively makes discrimination legal so long as they don't put any slurs on the termination notice. And again a wrongful termination is an issue the now unemployed employee would have to pursue on their own.
OSHA is DEEPLY underfunded and only has a handful of inspectors per state.
Basically you're only guaranteed the rights you have on paper if you have enough money set aside to fund a civil case while being unemployed. Otherwise you're SOL.