When Does Attendance at a Rugby Match Trigger a Dismissal from Employment?
“This is dishonest conduct of a kind which clearly negatively impairs upon a relationship of trust between an employer and employee.” (Extract from judgment below) An all-too-common complaint in workplaces comes from employers who notice a sudden surge in employees calling in sick on the day of a major sports fixture, or perhaps just on […]
R4m Damages for a Workplace Sexual Assault
“The stance adopted by the Municipality at the trial demonstrated a disturbing lack of appreciation of its legal obligation to have provided E[….] with a safe working environment.” (Extract from judgment below) Our courts do not tolerate any form of sexual assault or harassment in the workplace and a recent High Court decision confirms the […]
Dismissed: The Butcher Who Went To Work With COVID-19
In these times of deadly pandemic, both employees and their employers need to observe all workplace safety protocols to the letter. As the Labour Court recently pointed out, having fancy COVID-19 policies in place is meaningless if they aren’t strictly observed by everyone, and all the time. The Court was dealing with the case of […]
Workplace Bullying – Can You Claim Constructive Dismissal?
An employer may be tempted, when an employee resigns, to breathe a sigh of relief and think “great, I got rid of a problem without having to jump through all the hoops of a disciplinary enquiry/retrenchment process”. Not so fast! One of the protections our law provides to employees is the “constructive dismissal” concept, and […]
Cannabis in the Workplace: Can You Dismiss?
A recent CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) ruling, in which an employee’s dismissal for smoking cannabis before work was set aside and he was re-instated, has garnered a lot of media attention. Unfortunately, some of the resultant articles and headlines may have given the inaccurate impression that employees are now free to report […]