By Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawvideos.co.za
A great many employers are corporate entities or established organisations whose rules and procedures are set down coldly, dispassionately and objectively. However, the managers and supervisors who implement the employer’s rules are human beings who have emotions and who are often provoked by employee misconduct into ignoring the organisation’s objective rules.
Angry employers too often fire employees on the spot for having broken workplace rules, or for doing poor work. This is understandable in circumstances where the employee has seriously messed up a business deal, damaged equipment, lost crucial information, committed a dishonest act, refused to obey an instruction or caused other serious damage. However, there is no place for anger in the implementation of discipline. This is because the resultant hasty and foolhardy action is likely to trip the employer up at the CCMA.
A case in point is that of Marcel Pharmacy (Pty) Ltd vs Justine Afrika (SAFLII 11 March 2026. Labour Court case no: C337/2023). Here the employee switched off the lights of the pharmacy where she worked because she felt very hot and wanted to cool the shop down. When her boss, a Mr Snyman arrived, he angrily reprimanded her in front of customers. He was understandably angry because the darkness of the premises could make it appear that the pharmacy was closed, which could result in loss of business. Snyman instructed Afrika to write a statement that she had switched the lights off.
When Afrika refused Snyman told her to leave the premises but then told her not to leave. Later Afrika was called to a meeting where Snyman and the pharmacy manager told her again to write the statement or to leave. As she refused these instructions they threatened to call the police. Afrika left and referred an unfair dismissal case to the CCMA.
The arbitrator found that Afrika’s dismissal had been both substantively and procedurally unfair. The employer applied to the Labour Court for a review on the basis that it had not dismissed the employee but had only told her to leave. The employer had later informed her in writing that she had not been dismissed.
The Court, in deciding the matter, looked at the circumstances of Afrika’s eviction: “Although Afrika was not explicitly told she was dismissed, she was not advised she was suspended, nor was she told she needed to leave for the day and could return on Monday. Additionally, when Afrika did not report for duty on Monday, no one telephoned to find out her whereabouts.” While it was true that the employer had informed Afrika that she had not been dismissed it had only done this after she had referred the dispute to the CCMA. This showed that the employer’s intention had been to fire the employee.
In addition, the employer had fired the employee without having given her an opportunity to defend her case. The Court therefore upheld the arbitrator’s compensation award of five months’ remuneration.
The employer had been justified in his anger on finding the lights of his business had been turned off and in receiving the employee’s flat refusal to obey his instruction to write the statement. However, had the employer first allowed himself to calm down before acting against the employee he would have been able to discipline her effectively and in compliance with the law.
The costly nature of the employer’s emotional reaction to misconduct acts as a reminder to employers to ensure that their managers have been properly trained in how to deal wit hmisconduct rationally and in compliance with the law.
The innovative video series WALKING THE LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE assists employers to provide their managers with very inexpensive training that allows the managers to achieve labour law knowhow at times suitable to their very busy schedules. Its 48 chapters, averaging 10 minutes in length each, can easily be watched at junctures when the manager has time. This greatly informative yet very engaging and practical video series provides crucial and user-friendly learning through the use of a stimulating, animated case study that runs throughout the 48-chapter series. Each chapter contains clear and important advice needed by workplace management on the basics of labour law over a very wide range of topics.
A further advantage is that the manager can, for a full year, easily go back to any of the 48 videos for purposes of refresher training or in order to access information on how to deal with a current workplace issue. This solves the problem of managers forgetting what they have learned.
This video series helps management to walk the shaky labour law tightrope and to run the workplace productively without falling into the labour law abyss.
To access our groundbreaking video series: WALKING THE NEW LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE please go to www.labourlawvideos.co.za or contact Ivan on ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za
