adminDavies Ndumiso Sibanda
ON many occasions workers and employees have differences over whether employees should be disciplined for misconduct that occurred outside the workplace. Not all conduct that occurs outside the workplace is not disciplinable in terms of the code of conduct as there are occasions where the code of conduct may be applied for conduct that occurs outside the workplace. For example when an employee lives in an employer provided accommodation and beats his/her spouse, the employer has a duty to protect all who live in employer provided accommodation and as such the code will be applied on the alleged offending employee. This is more so in accommodation provided in closed communities like mines.
John is taken to the maintenance court by his girlfriend who demands that he pays $300 for the child they have together and John lies in court that he earns $350 instead of the $900 that he earns. There is no work related case in this instance. However, if John is asked to produce his payslip and alters the payslip to read $350 and the employer gets to know about it, he can be disciplined in terms of the code of conduct as his conduct now impacts on the employer.
Workers should understand that where conduct occurs outside the workplace but has an impact on the workplace, the employer is entitled to discipline such a worker. As a result workers have to be very careful to avoid any conduct that will have an impact on the name of the employer.
It is also accepted that at times drawing a clear line is very difficult for example, many codes of conduct have a clause which says “bringing the name of the employer into disrepute” is a disciplinable offence in terms of the code of conduct.
This has led courts to battle with decision making when it comes to what constitutes bringing the name of the employer into disrepute.
In cases where the code of conduct is silent, employees can also be disciplined for conduct inconsistent with their implied conditions of employment.
In every employee’s contract, there is a duty not to engage in conduct that impacts on the employer’s image while away from work. Imprisoned employees for whatever reason can be dismissed for absence at work as the contract will have been frustrated by their imprisonment even if their reasons for imprisonment have nothing to do with the employer.
There are many other instances where workers need to be careful even if they are not at work for example misconduct at a Christmas party, at a football match, a workers committee member representing the company at a funeral over the weekend without authority or making a press statement about the company while away from work could lead to disciplinary action.
In conclusion, workers should realise that even if they are away from work, they carry the image of the company and as such should avoid any acts that impact negatively on the organisation.
Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Or cell No: 0772 375 235
derick.khumalo