ABSTRACT
It is true to say that the loss of a job can be one of the most devastating events to occur in the life of any worker. 1 The fact of the dismissal is bad enough, but the reason behind it, and manner in which the dismissal is manifested, can be just as overwhelming as the act itself, if not more so. Indeed, as aptly stated by Downes, Mamingi and Antoine, ‘[T]he most contentious area of labour law in the region relates to the termination of workers and calculation of the associated fi ring costs to the employer’. 2
As discussed in Chapter 5, a distinct regime exists to regulate dismissals within the purview of the common law, albeit that limited statutory interventions have encroached thereon with the express intention of implementing certain minimum standards. Suffi ce it to say that these common law principles have proved inadequate to address the concerns of especially the longterm worker who is terminated at the behest of the employer in circumstances where they are neither at fault nor engaged in activities which would legally allow the employer to dismiss. These and other reasons, no doubt encouraged and guided by ILO Conventions and Recommendations, caused many States to introduce specifi c statutory regimens to institute a framework for the protection of workers in such instances. Two of the most widely recognised mechanisms used in this regard are (1) redundancy or severance packages and (2) unfair dismissal procedures and compensation.
