Something about the festive season creates a \u2018buzz\u2019 of excitement. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to reckless decisions by employees, which may influence whether they successfully return to work in January, says Michael Yeates, a director at law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.<\/p>\n
Yeates warned that even during the festive season employees still carry an employer\u2019s flag – a flag which they are expected to uphold.<\/p>\n
“The basis for taking disciplinary action for conduct that occurred away from the workplace, especially during the festive season, is that employers are not precluded from holding their employees accountable for their off-duty conduct where there is a connection between the employee\u2019s conduct and the employer\u2019s business,” he said.<\/p>\n
“As a result of this, the employer can exercise discipline over the employee for their off-duty conduct during the festive period.<\/p>\n
“A key factor would then be to what extent the off-duty conduct has impacted the employment trust relationship.”<\/p>\n
Below he outlined some instances where an employer may be permitted to take disciplinary steps against employees.<\/p>\n
Functions<\/strong><\/p>\n Year-end functions or office parties have been regarded as a gateway to the festive season where employees get together in celebration of the year they have left behind, said Yeates.<\/p>\n “However, there may be instances where misconduct such as rude behaviour occurs during these functions. The Intraspeed SA (Pty) Ltd v T Boyce N.O and Others<\/em>\u00a0case is an example of such misconduct.<\/p>\n “The conduct complained of was that of an employee who asked his wife to send an email to his colleague which read \u2018F**k You Thank You\u2019 (sic) in response to a query from his colleague. Although this was meant to be a joke, the employer took disciplinary steps.”<\/p>\n Bargaining<\/strong><\/p>\n Given the decreased number of available employees during the shutdown period, employees may use this opportunity as a bargaining tool when it comes to their salaries, said Yeates.<\/p>\n “In Seardel Group Trading (Pty) Ltd t\/a Romatex Home Textiles v Petersen and Others<\/em>, the employee was dismissed for failing to obey a lawful instruction in that the employee refused to perform maintenance work during the employer\u2019s annual shutdown period at his normal rate and insisted on a higher rate.<\/p>\n “The dismissal was held to be fair as the employee was not on leave during the shutdown period.”<\/p>\n Social media posts\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Social media is an important part of the festive season because employees will no doubt be showing off what they get up to during the holiday period, said Yeates.<\/p>\n “Where the content posted on social media becomes unacceptable and in violation of the employer\u2019s policies, employers can take disciplinary action for this misconduct.”<\/p>\n Yeates pointed to a recent case<\/a><\/strong> where a South African employee who posted a racial slur on Facebook while on holiday.<\/p>\n
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