Practical Labour Law Assignment

Question 1 Word count: 647 The common law contract of employment would require that the two parties involved i.e. employer and employee conclude an agreement equitable to or at least meeting the needs of (locatio conductio operarum/employment proper). Considering the nature of the relationship between Mrs. James and the school, it is difficult to define who the employee and employer is, as the initial agreement for the services offered by Mrs. James was made between her and the parents. The school ultimately becomes responsible for paying her salary based on a request she made. No formal agreement is mentioned with regards to this arrangement for instance, is the school charging her an administration/handling fee or is she subjected to statutory deductions like UIF as the other teachers.
Mrs. James was provided with the tools (i.e. two classrooms) to run her services by the school and they stipulated conditions of her using the schools facilities (provided she supplied the children with equipment etc). Thus it would seem as though a (location conduction operis ) or “provision of work” contract exists between the school and Mrs. James. This contract unfortunately does not provide her with job security or recourse when facing acts of negligence or wrong doing by the other party to the contract.
The control test indicates that Mrs. James ran her own after care centre without reporting to any of the staff members, in fact if ever there was a reporting structure it would probably be to the parents of the children she looked after. The governing body had no control over how she ran her classes either than the fact that they stipulated that toys and equipment be provided to the children and of course that the classrooms be well maintained. The governing body can stipulate the code of conduct for the other teachers but surely Mrs. James would not be subjected to this.
In terms of the Organizational test, Mrs. James has been a part of the school for 15