Terms of Service

1. Agreement

These Terms of Service form a binding agreement between Sous-Chef ("Sous-Chef", "we"), and the entity or natural person who registers an account ("Customer", "you").

Where the Customer also processes personal information of its employees through the service, the parties additionally enter into the Operator Agreement, which forms part of these Terms.

2. The service

Sous-Chef is a multi-tenant SaaS platform that helps South African employers manage employees, leave, schedules, contracts, disciplinaries and statutory documents. The service is delivered over the public internet and depends on third-party infrastructure providers listed on our sub-processors page.

The service is intended to support compliance with the BCEA, LRA and the CATRA Collective Agreement, but it does not constitute legal advice. The Customer remains responsible for the accuracy of information it enters and for the lawfulness of decisions it takes in reliance on the service.

3. Accounts and access

• You must register with a real, working business email address
• You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential
• You must promptly revoke access for users who leave your organisation
• The owner and admin roles can invite other users; you are responsible for the actions of all users in your organisation

4. Customer data and roles under POPIA

The Customer is the responsible party for the personal information of its employees-members entered into the service. Sous-Chef is the operator and processes that information only on the Customer's documented instructions, on the terms of the Operator Agreement.

The Customer warrants that it has a lawful basis to load each employee's personal information into the service and that it has provided each employee with the notice required by POPIA s18. Sous-Chef supports this by capturing a per-member POPIA notice on first login.

5. Fees, trials and billing

• Pricing is published on the pricing section of our website and incorporated into these Terms by reference.
• The 14-day free trial is offered without a credit card. At the end of the trial you may select a paid plan or your data is exported and deleted in line with the retention schedule in our privacy policy.
• All amounts are in South African Rand and exclude VAT unless stated otherwise.
• Fees are payable in advance for the chosen billing period (monthly or yearly). Late payment may suspend access until cured.

6. Acceptable use

You may not, and must not allow any user to:

• Use the service for any unlawful purpose
• Upload personal information you are not lawfully entitled to process
• Attempt to access another organisation's data, reverse-engineer the service or probe for vulnerabilities outside a sanctioned disclosure programme
• Use the service to send spam, harass, defame or impersonate another person
• Resell or sublicense the service without our written consent

7. Intellectual property

Sous-Chef and its licensors retain all rights, title and interest in the service, including all software, content templates and design. The Customer retains all rights in its data; nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of Customer data to Sous-Chef. We may use anonymised, aggregated data to improve the service.

8. Third-party sub-processors

The service is built on third-party infrastructure and email providers. The current list, their hosting regions and the categories of personal information they handle is published at /legal/sub-processors. We notify Customer-administrators by email before adding, replacing or materially changing a sub-processor.

9. Warranties and disclaimers

We warrant that we will provide the service with reasonable skill and care and in accordance with applicable South African law. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the service is otherwise provided on an "as-is" and "as-available" basis and we disclaim all other warranties, express or implied.

10. Limitation of liability

Subject to applicable law, neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages arising out of these Terms. Each party's total aggregate liability under these Terms is capped at the fees paid by the Customer to Sous-Chef in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these Terms limits liability for wilful misconduct, fraud, or any liability that cannot be limited under law (including under the CPA where applicable).

11. Term and termination

• These Terms apply for as long as you have an account.
• You may cancel at any time from within the service or by emailing support; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
• We may suspend or terminate access for material breach (including unpaid fees, unlawful use, or breach of the acceptable-use rules in section 6) on reasonable notice, except where the breach is incapable of remedy.
• On termination, we make Customer data available for export for 30 days, after which the data is deleted in line with the retention schedule in our privacy policy.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts, without prejudice to either party's right to seek interim or urgent relief in any competent forum.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The version number and effective date at the top of this page change with each update. Material changes are notified to Customer-administrators by email at least 14 days before they take effect; continued use after that date constitutes acceptance.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms: hello@sous-chef.co.za. Privacy / data-subject requests: privacy@sous-chef.co.za.

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