South Africa, Jan. 24 -- On 11 December 2019, the Minister of Labour in South Africa issued a notice calling for interested parties to make submissions on his proposal to deem persons in the film and television industry as employees for the purpose of selected portions of South Africa's employment law. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) empowers the Minister to deem persons to be employees. This has the effect that persons - who may otherwise not be classified as employees for the purpose of employment legislation - would enjoy the rights (and obligations) of employees. The Minister has called on interested parties to make submissions on the proposal.

The notice is certainly unusual - arguably the first of this nature issued b...