Practising employment and labour law in South Africa
Purpose of GilesFiles:
One of the principal aims of GilesFiles (GF) is to document relevant legislation and case law to assist practitioners and academics in researching and applying employment and labour law.
– Database development: A database was established in approximately 1983 to capture comprehensive details of relevant judgments, including the forum, dates, parties, presiding judges, applicable statutory provisions, issues, decisions and orders.
Relational fields were developed to ensure that information could be properly categorised and retrieved.
– GilesFiles website: A website was subsequently established to make the recorded information accessible to users. The database distinguishes between categories and tags to facilitate the classification and retrieval of cases.
– Single legal system: South Africa has one system of law applicable throughout the Republic, requiring practitioners and academics to understand and apply the laws governing all aspects of employment relationships.
– Knowledge of the law: Practitioners must understand the relevant legislation, regulations, rules and case law and how they operate in practice to avoid serious professional consequences.
– Dispute resolution: Employment and labour disputes may be resolved through facilitation, mediation, arbitration, bargaining councils and the various courts, culminating in the Constitutional Court.
– Monitoring new judgments: Since approximately 1994, employment and labour judgments have been freely accessible through SAFLII. The Labour Appeal Court and Labour Courts in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth are monitored daily for new decisions.
– Daily case-recording process: Each new judgment is examined to determine its relevance and whether it should be included in the database and published on GilesFiles. Selected cases are allocated unique reference numbers and recorded with links to their original sources.
– Extracting relevant information: The relevant portions of each judgment are identified, including the issues in dispute, the parties’ arguments, the court’s findings and the order. Footnotes are retained and, wherever possible, hyperlinks to cited judgments are provided.
– Preparing case summaries: AI is used to prepare concise narrative summaries of selected portions of each judgment. These are reviewed and refined, with particular attention to accuracy and brevity.
– Case headings and descriptions: Each case is given a short, preferably three-word heading followed by a colon and a brief description. The heading identifies the broad subject and outcome, while a question and concise answer helps users understand the principal issue and its resolution.
– Website publication: A new website entry is created containing the parties, forum, presiding judge, hearing and judgment dates, relevant textbook references, categories and tags. The full judgment and its footnotes are also included, with hyperlinks wherever possible.
– Practical value: This process enables practitioners and academics to identify relevant judgments quickly, assess their significance when advising clients and locate authoritative decisions for use in litigation and legal argument.