Latest Articles
Refusal to undergo a polygraph test may be grounds for dismissal
Polygraph and truth verification tests have been around for some time. You won’t need to look far to find someone with an opinion on these tests, with those claiming that they are all but infallible, to those who doubt their accuracy. Regardless, these tests are...
Yes, you can be dismissed on grounds of ill-health absenteeism
As uncompassionate as it may sound, employers are not obligated to employ an employee, who is habitually absent on grounds of ill health, indefinitely. ‘Incapacity’ is one of the three species of dismissal in our law, with the other two being ‘misconduct’ and...
Concourt provides guidelines on an employer’s duty of good faith in derivative misconduct cases
All employees have a common-law obligation to their employers to promote and protect the interests of the employer, at all times. This includes informing management of any planned or actual acts of misconduct they have knowledge of. It could, for example, include...
When the Labour Appeal Court considers a dismissal sanction too harsh
We know that too severe a sanction in a disciplinary hearing amounts to substantive unfairness. The dilemma facing employers in the selecting of a sanction, and more especially the sanction of dismissal, was highlighted in the recent (13 June 2019) Labour Appeal court...
30+ years of labour relations consulting observations in SA
Our labour relations consultancy is in its 25th year, and this has inclined our team to reminisce over our journey, and prompted me to recall the trends and developments over time. Labour relations is seldom viewed dispassionately. It is a field which spans a...
Discipline post resignation, yay or nay?
Our courts have rendered contradictory judgments regarding whether, or not, employers are allowed to schedule disciplinary hearings after an employee has resigned. In the Public sector, due to a prevailing collective agreement, the position is quite clear, an...
Labour Court Reiterates the Value of Polygraph Tests
Over time, there has, to some degree, been conflicting law regarding the extent of the admissibility of polygraph test results in disciplinary hearings. More especially, this has related to whether an employer can rely solely on a failed polygraph test to prove the...
Jobs for cash is more widespread than you think
‘Jobs for cash’ is not a new phenomenon. We observe this with clients on a quite frequent basis. It’s quite simple. Someone within the company, with influence over recruitment and selection decisions, accepts cash to ensure a job applicant’s employment. It can...
False allegations of racism can lead to dismissal
Racism, in all its forms, is abhorrent, and if proved, is quite clearly grounds for dismissal. That said, it is equally unpalatable for employees to level untrue allegations of racism. This was a central theme in the recent CCMA arbitration award in NUMSA...
Job applicants must come clean on criminal records
A job applicant who confirms, on employment, that they do not have a criminal record, better be telling the truth. If it is subsequently found that they were fibbing, and that they did in fact have a criminal conviction, they run the very real risk of dismissal. The...
Circumstantial evidence if persuasive, can prove guilt
Circumstantial evidence is used to prove guilt when there were no eye witnesses. No-one observed the misconduct, yet there are facts regarding the circumstances in which the misconduct occurred, which points to a most probable guilty person. If you like,...
The conflicting evidence conundrum
Chairpersons in disciplinary hearings are frequently faced with conflicting evidence or testimonies from two witnesses describing the same event. For example, an employee may testify that they were not sleeping on duty, whilst a manager may testify that they were. ...