
Talita Laubscher
Partner- Overview
- Experience
- Publications & Insights
Overview
Talita Laubscher is a partner in our Johannesburg office Employment & Benefits Practice, and is an employment and data protection specialist.
With regard to employment, Talita regularly advises on the employment consequences of commercial transactions, dismissals and the drafting of employment contracts, policies and procedures. She is particularly interested in discrimination law and has published extensively in this field. It is the principle of fairness, and the careful balancing of rights, that drew Talita to employment law and she remains passionate about it.
Talita is also on the forefront of data protection developments and advises extensively on the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), which is now in force in South Africa.
She has B.Iuris and LLB degrees (both awarded cum laude) from the University of Free State and an LLM from the University of Emory, USA.
Specialist Services
Relevant Experience
Talita was the instructing attorney in one of the ground-breaking cases on second generation outsourcing. One of Talita’s keen interests is law of unfair discrimination. Her exposure to foreign discrimination law (as a participant in the International Human Rights Training Programme in Montreal, Canada, in 1996 and later as a student of Employment Discrimination and International Law at Emory, USA) has equipped her with the ability to do comparative analyses and to find practical solutions to clients’ discrimination questions. She was part of the team who advised Business Unity South Africa on the amendments to the Employment Equity Act and the Regulations pertaining to equal pay which took effect in 2014.
Talita’s keen interest in human rights and, in particular, the right to privacy, naturally drew Talita to data protection matters. She and her team developed a POPIA Toolkit to enable employers to ensure compliance. Her expertise on data protection extends beyond the employment relationship, and she advises on all aspect of data protection matters.
The Covid-19 pandemic posed unique challenges to employers, and through Talita’s involvement with the work of Business for South Africa (B4SA), he provided extensive guidance to employers through the various Alert Levels. She was also intimately involved in the Nedlac processes, most notably the TERS benefit and advice pertaining to employers’ obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Directives. The issue of mandatory vaccinations in the workplace is a hot topic, and Talita and her team assist employers in developing their Workplace Plans to ensure compliance with the Directives, including matters of vaccination, where appropriate.
Talita has acted as a judge in Labour Court.
Signature Matters
Awards
- Chambers and Partners consistently ranked Talita in Band 4 for Employment law for the past four consecutive years (2018 to 2021).
- Talita was recognised by Who’s Who Legal 2018 in the category Employment & Benefits: Labour & Employment.
- Africa Employment Law Firm of the year – This was awarded in recognition of the Firm’s advice in the formation of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa and its subsidiaries, a transaction in which Talita and her team was intimately involved.
Publications & Insights
- South Africa: Employees must have their jobs back after maternity leave
- South Africa: Amended Employment Equity Act to become operative on 1 September 2023
- South Africa: CCMA decides that an employer’s vaccination policy is unreasonable and unconstitutional – should employers be concerned?
- South Africa: End of Disaster Management transitional period – can employers allow employees to toss away their masks?
- South Africa: The developing case law on vaccinations
- South Africa: Recourse for employees who are injured as a result of vaccinations
- South Africa: Vaccination requirements at the workplace – are they permitted under the new legislative framework?
- South Africa: End of the National State of Disaster – what it means for employers
- South Africa: New hazardous biological agents regulations further regulate employers’ responsibilities for managing COVID-19 exposure in the workplace
- South Africa: New Code of Good Practice to replace the Consolidated Direction on Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Certain Workplaces
- South Africa: Exemptions from vaccine requirements in the workplace on the basis of religion, opinion or belief
- South Africa: Increase to the Unemployment Insurance Fund contribution ceiling
- COVID-19: TERS relief extension in South Africa and revised reduced work time benefit
- COVID-19: Continued TERS relief in South Africa for certain categories of employees and revised reduced work time benefit
- South Africa: New BCEA threshold and increase in national minimum wage
- COVID-19: Can an employer in South Africa force its employees to get vaccinated?
- COVID-19: Health data reporting by employers in South Africa – what you should know
- COVID-19: TERS applications closing dates
- COVID-19: South Africa – Extension of TERS benefit to 15 September 2020
- COVID-19: South Africa – TERS benefit extended for certain categories of employees
- COVID-19: Amended Consolidated Occupational Health and Safety Direction
- COVID-19: Alert Level 3 – what South African employers should do
- COVID-19: Alert Level 4 Regulations – workplace plans and safety measures, South Africa
- COVID-19: Ensuring a safe return to work, South Africa
- COVID-19: The new workplace – the employer’s health and safety obligations do not stop at the office door
- COVID-19: TERS benefit – Amended Directives, South Africa
- COVID-19: Tax treatment of TERS benefits, South Africa
- COVID-19: South African TERS benefit – what you need to know
- COVID-19: Must employees be paid during the lockdown in South Africa?
- COVID-19: Domestic workers during the lockdown in South Africa
- COVID-19: Meaning of a gathering
- COVID-19: Guidelines from the South African Department of Employment and Labour
- COVID-19 and proceedings before the CCMA in South Africa
- COVID-19 and school closures – impact on the workplace
- Safeguarding the workplace from COVID-19: suggested preventative measures
- Safeguarding the workplace from COVID-19
- Unconstitutionality of RICA should not affect employers
- Conditional employment is a commercial reality
- What is one month’s notice?
- National minimum wage
- Protecting pregnant employees – cold comfort?
- Labour broker deeming provisions interpreted to create a position of ’sole’ employment
- Equal Pay – Three Years on
- The employment relationship and how it is affected by business transfers in countries across Africa
- Cross Border Employment Law: Mergers & Acquisitions and Employee Transfers
- Equal work for equal pay – length of service and different geographic areas may be arbitrary criteria
- No man can serve two masters
- Non-permanent employees afforded greater protection
- Fixed term employees – Stricter regulations
- Compensation in Unfair Discrimination Cases
- Youth wage subsidy a delicate balancing act
- Voluntary retrenchment: what you need to know to stay legal
- Breasting the discrimination divide
- South Africa: Employers can ensure compliance with POPIA quickly and easily
- COVID-19: Safe Return to Work Pack – ensuring compliance quickly and easily