Dear Reader
More about employee resignations
In one of my bulletins recently I told you about the Labour Court case of Lottering and others v Stellenbosch Municipality, which deals with resignation. Since then I keep hearing about employers who have issues around employees who resign. So I thought I’d give you a few more tips to deal with employees who’ve resigned.
Can you discipline an employee who’s resigned?
Just because an employee has resigned and is working out his notice period doesn’t mean you can’t take disciplinary action against him should you need to. He’s still employed until his notice period ends.
Therefore, if he commits misconduct during this period (or you become aware of misconduct), you can still discipline him.
If, after you’ve taken disciplinary against your employee, and summarily dismissed him before his notice period ends, the employment relationship will terminate. This will be because you dismissed him for misconduct and not because he’s resigned.
If you don’t complete the disciplinary process before the end of the notice period, you can’t carry on with disciplinary action as he’s no longer your employee.
Can your employee take leave after giving notice?
The BCEA says an employee can’t take leave during his notice period when the employer has given notice to end the employment relationship, e.g. employee dismissal. But, the BCEA doesn’t prohibit the employee from taking leave during notice when he resigns.
However, employers usually don’t allow employees to take annual leave during their notice period. This is often set out in an employee’s contract of employment or in the employer’s policies and procedures. This is to ensure continuity of business and a smooth hand-over. You can allow your employee to take leave so he doesn’t not have to report to the workplace during his notice period, if you’d like to. Confirm that the employee has requested the leave and you’ve granted it in writing.
Until next time…
Taryn Strugnell
Labour Law for Managers
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