Di Gibson

Labour Law Johannesburg March 2023 February 2023 

Di Gibson is a rather "old" Candidate Attorney who completed her LLB degree at the age of 58. She worked for a firm of family law practitioners for ten months and recently ceded her articles to Andrew Goldberg of Goldberg Attorneys Inc. Read a little more about Di here: Just do it! (unisa.ac.za)

Are restraint of trade matters to be dealt with on an urgent basis?

CASE LAW: SLO-JO INNOVATION V CHRISTINE BEEDLE and FLAVOURPRO (Pty) Ltd

I was fortunate enough to hear this matter being argued at the Labour Court. This case involved an ex-employee of SLO-JO INNOVATION who had signed a restraint of trade ("RoT") agreement stating that she wouldn't work for another beverage company within a two-year period of leaving them. Ms Beedle resigned and joined a competitor, FlavourPro (Pty) Ltd. Slo-Jo sought to have the Labour Court hear this matter on a rather urgent basis as several months had passed since Ms Beedle joined the competitor company and was said to have been giving the proverbial finger to her last employers in terms of the restraint of trade agreement between them. Ms Beedle's counsel argued that the matter was not urgent at all. The Court, therefore, needed to decide on the matter of urgency.

The Honourable Judge referred to case law here (Boomerang Trade CC t/a Border Sheet Metals v Groenewald and another) and stated that, when it comes to RoT matters, there is an inherent level of urgency in that the other party to the RoT stands to suffer a financial loss if these cases follow a slower judicial adjudicative process.

One can only imagine that by the time the case has come before the Honourable Court, a substantial portion of the two years may have elapsed.

The end result was that the Court pronounced judgment in favour of Slo-Jo Innovation and the Applicant had to cease working for FlavourPro (Pty) Ltd immediately. In somewhat of a rarity, the Court also awarded 50% of costs in favour of the Applicant. Ms Beedle would not be able to work for another beverage company until 1 November 2023, when her RoT ended.

The outcome displays the Court's consideration of RoT agreements. It shows how seriously our Courts are taking RoT agreements by dealing with them expeditiously.

Such an attitude by the Court will hopefully have the effect that litigants refrain from using the judicial system and its somewhat overburdened state as a tool to avoid compliance by playing for time and dragging the process out, thwarting the very purpose of the RoT, itself.

My being given time to be in Court and to listen to counsel arguing their parties' case is one of the benefits I have with my new boss. The way the counsel argued and the passion they showed in putting their client's submissions across to the Judge substantiated my desire to become an attorney and to practice Labour Law. 

CONTACT US:

            GOLDBERG ATTORNEYS INC

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86 Juta Street Braamfontein, 2000

Tel: (011) 403-0015 Cell: 083 260 7530

Email: andrew@goldbergs.co.za