Labour brokers and their clients should be aware that they risk being challenged for unfair dismissal if they terminate the services of certain temporary employees to avoid the new provisions of the Labour Relations Amendment Act. The amendments to the Labour Relations Act came into force this year and provide greater protection for certain workers in temporary employment services.Section 198A(3)(b) now states that a worker providing anything but a true temporary service to the labour broker's client is deemed to be the employee of that client and the client is deemed to be the employer. An individual performs a temporary service where he or she renders services to the client for less than three months or where he or she fills in for an employee who is temporarily absent‚ such as on maternity leave.The termination of an employee’s service in order to avoid these provisions from applying constitutes a dismissal.The new amendments have provided the Commission for Conciliation‚ Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) with jurisdiction to hear any disputes relating to the interpretation or application of the new amendments. This is in addition to its powers to deal with unfair dismissal disputes.Talita Laubscher‚ a partner at law firm Bowman Gilfillan‚ said the category of employees protected by this provision are those earning below the current threshold of R205,433.30 per year‚ equivalent to about R17,200 a month. This threshold is prescribed by the labour minister and may increase on July 1.“These are very important provisions. They say: 'If you terminate the service of the employee with the client and if the purpose of the termination is to avoid the deeming provisions (of section 198A(3)(b)) from applying‚ that would be regarded as a dismissal‚ and the employee could approach the CCMA for relief’‚ ” Laubscher said.Laubscher’s comments follow Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant's criticism earlier this month of employers who were dismissing workers in order to side-step the new amendments.“Let me however warn those employers who are engaging in this practice that there is a provision in the new law that is designed to prevent this practice if it is proven that they are doing this purely to side-step the law‚” Oliphant said when tabling her department's budget for a vote in Parliament.- RDM News Wire..