Statistics Act, 1999
R 385
Manpower Training Act, 1981 (Act No. 56 of 1981)Chapter 6 : General Provisions56. Civil legal remedies of employees and employers |
| 1) | The provisions of this Act shall not derogate from - |
| a) | any right which an apprentice may have to institute a civil action against his employer in respect of any contravention of or failure to comply with any provision of a contract of apprenticeship or any condition of apprenticeship, except in respect of a failure referred to in section 51(1); |
| b) | any right which an employer may have to institute a civil action against an apprentice in respect of any contravention of or failure to comply with any provision of the contract of apprenticeship in question or any condition of apprenticeship. |
| 2) | No civil action for the recovery of any amount underpaid, referred to in section 51(2), in respect of which an order has been issued in terms of section 51(4), or for the recovery of an amount in respect of which an order has been issued in terms of section 52(1), may be instituted in any court. |
| 3) | Subject to the provisions of subsection (4), the provisions of section 51 or of subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall not prohibit any employee - |
| a) | where his employer has been convicted of an offence consisting of a failure referred to in section 51(1) which occurred in respect of that employee, from recovering from his employer, by way of a civil action, any amount owing to him under any agreement with his employer, in excess of the amount underpaid referred to in section 51(2); or |
| b) | where his employer has not been so convicted, from recovering from his employer, by way of a civil action, any amount which his employer is required to pay to him in terms of the provisions of a contract of apprenticeship or of any notice in terms of this Act which is or was binding upon him and his employer, or in terms of any condition of apprenticeship. |
| 4) | An employee to whom his employer has failed to pay any amount which the employer is required to pay to him in terms of any contract of apprenticeship or any condition of apprenticeship or in terms of the provisions of any notice in terms of this Act which is or was binding upon the employer, shall not be entitled to recover from his employer by means of a civil action the amount or any part of the amount which his employer has so failed to pay to him, unless - |
| a) | that employee produces to the court a certificate signed by the attorney-general concerned in which the attorney-general states that he declines to prosecute in respect of the failure upon which the employee intends to base the cause of action; or |
| b) | the employer has been acquitted on a charge of that failure. |
