Question about interns’ status in law

AS most employers want graduates from tertiary education to have some sort of experience behind them, internships and learnerships have become a very popular way of these individuals getting the experience that they need. Among these people, there is often an expectation that after their period of apprenticeship or internship has come to an end that they will be permanently employed by the company. However, the question needs to be asked as to what their status in labour law is. The case below provides clarity.

In Wana and another / Coega Development Corporation – (2018) 7.1.6 also reported at [2018] 2 BALR 227 (CCMA):

● The employees were both engaged on graduate internship contracts, which were extended three times. This contract was not renewed a fourth time.

● They claimed they had been employed for an indefinite duration in terms of section 198B of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). This, they claimed, is because a reasonable expectation of renewal had been created and therefore they had been unfairly dismissed.

● The commissioner at the CCMA concluded that the initial contract had set a fixed date for termination and that each extension had been granted on similar terms, which the employees had agreed to.

● The LRA specifically provides that the automatic conversion of fixed-term to permanent employment does not apply to students or recent graduates employed for the purpose of gaining experience or training. The specific justification is that the student or recent graduate is employed for the purpose of being trained or gaining work experience to enter a job or profession. It is not stated that the future employment will be with the organisation which provided the opportunity to gain such experience.

● It was ruled the employees’ fixedterm contracts and the renewals thereof were justifiable and did not create the expectation of permanent employment.

● The commissioner ruled that they had not been unfairly dismissed.