Luphert Chilwane

Many employees seem to labour under the impression that discipline only relates to the most common offences such as theft, dishonesty, assault and absenteeism.

There seems to be a lack of knowledge that if an employee performs their jobs poorly, they can also be dismissed for misconduct.

A charge in this instance would range from negligence through to gross negligence for dereliction of duty, according to labour expert Jonathan Goldberg, CEO of Global Business Solution.

He says dereliction of duty almost always warrants dismissal but the employer must be able to show not only what the employee’s duties were, but also that the employee failed to perform them.

Similarly, an employer cannot charge an employee with dereliction of duty if the employee failed to do something that was not their duty in the first place.

“The problem with these types of cases is that there exists a very fine line between poor performance, being a form of incapacity, or negligent misconduct.

“The test of negligence is whether a reasonable person in the position of the employee would have foreseen the harm or possibility of harm resulting and would have taken steps to prevent such.

“An employer needs to ascertain whether the employee failed to exercise reasonable care in the performance of their duties,” said Goldberg.