Title: The statutory framework regulating the withholding of retirement benefits in South Africa: an argument for a uniform approach

Authors: M.C. Marumoagae

Addresses: School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Abstract: This paper demonstrates that the law that allows employers to be compensated from their employees' retirement benefits due to the delictual harm suffered by employers because of their employees conduct or omission in the workplace, is fragmented in South Africa. It discusses similar provisions from different statutes that empower retirement funds to deduct and use employees' retirement benefits to compensate employers. It illustrates that some of these provisions provide factors that are not provided by similar provisions from other statutes that allow employers to be compensated for the economic harm they suffered at the hands of their employees, who are members of retirement funds, in their workplaces. It argues that all these provisions should be amended to encourage uniformity in the way retirement benefits can be used to compensate employers for losses caused by their employees within their workplaces.

Keywords: retirement funds; retirement benefits; withholding; deduct; economic loss; workplace; South Africa.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPL.2022.129681

International Journal of Private Law, 2022 Vol.10 No.2/3/4, pp.232 - 252

Received: 09 Apr 2022
Accepted: 30 Nov 2022
Published online: 20 Mar 2023 *

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