Top 10 South Africa stories of 2017
By Tom Carnegie, 29 Dec 17
The establishment of new financial regulators and an overhaul of tax exemptions for expats were some of the top read stories by our South African audience in 2017. To see the others click through the slides.
Our second most read story, which also featured deVere, was the ongoing labour court case between DeVere Investment and sacked area manager Ross Pennell.
DeVere was ordered to pay the former employee ZAR3.7m (£217,380, $276,020, €252,420) by South Africa’s labour court in April.
Pennell took the firm to court arguing it owed him unpaid commission, notice and an unpaid bonus.
The international advisory firm claimed that Pennell breached his contract because his work permit expired, which exempted deVere from paying him with effect from 13 June 2014.
This defence was dismissed by the court as it had been previously established under South African law that the absence of a valid work permit does not invalidate an employment contract.
DeVere appealed the case in May, however in November it confirmed to the court that it would pay Pennell £87,384 ($115,610, €98,378) for the outstanding commission and notice period.
The firm says it will still appeal having to pay Pennell a £130,000 bonus. The company is arguing that the payment was not an unconditional bonus, as Pennell claimed.
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