People and workplace policies · 01
Disciplinary code and procedure
Sets out the standards of conduct, the process for addressing a breach, and the sanctions available.
Sets out the standards of conduct, the process for addressing a breach, and the sanctions available.
Align it to Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act: the distinction between misconduct, incapacity and operational requirements; a non-exhaustive list of offences with indicative rather than fixed sanctions; progressive discipline; the investigation; the notice of hearing and its contents; the right to representation and the limits on it; the presiding officer and their independence; the record of the hearing; the ruling with reasons; and appeal or review.
A code that reads as a rigid tariff of sanctions removes the discretion the employer needs, and is then used against the employer at the CCMA — keep it a guide, and say so. The most common reason an employer loses is not the substance but the record: charges drafted too narrowly to cover what the evidence proved, or a ruling that states a conclusion without the reasoning that supports it.
The law it sits under
What governs this instrument.
Schedule 8 to the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 — the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal — is the standard a commissioner applies. Item 7 sets the misconduct guidelines: whether a rule existed, whether the employee was aware of it, whether it has been applied consistently, and whether dismissal is an appropriate sanction.
Related pages, tools and documents
Where this instrument sits in the wider set, and the engagement that produces it.
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