The President of RSA v Reinecke 2014 3 SA 205 (SCA)

Abstract

The recent appeal case of The President of RSA v Reinecke (the Reinecke judgment) dealt with many issues about the employment of magistrates under the Magistrates Court Act (90 of 1993) but the most important issue for purposes of this note is how the judgment grappled with, on the one hand, the relationship between the common law rights and those rights conferred by statute in the labour sphere and; on the other hand, the notion of constructive dismissal in a complex working environment. The case calls for comment purely on the possible precedent it sets for the relationship between the common law and statutory rights in matters concerning employment as well as the impact it makes into the doctrine of constructive dismissal. The findings made by the court could potentially escalate and begin to constitute new defences to common law remedies where these intersect with other statutes that regulate employment and to claims of constructive dismissals.