The Labour Court in Johannesburg has reinstated a human resource officer at Sibanye Stillwater after he was dismissed for working on his day off.

The man, only identified as Mapholoba, was dismissed in October 2018 after 31 years of employment.

The events leading to Mapholoba’s dismissal began in late December 2017, when he was rostered for overtime on the 24th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th of that month. Notably, he reported for duty a day early on December 23.

He was subsequently charged with dishonesty and summarily dismissed.

He sought relief at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) where he explained that he knew that he was not supposed to report for duty on December 23.

However, he received a phone call from a human resources colleague, Nqini, advising him to come to work on his scheduled day off. Trusting this information, he arrived at the mine at 6 am, only to discover he had forgotten his clock card at home and went to fetch it.

Upon his return, he clocked in at the shaft access point but did not clock in at the next point, which calculates the working hours. He said he only remembered at about 12pm that he hadn’t clocked in on the other access point. He then asked Nqini to assist him with manual clocking to reflect that he had started his shift at 6am.

Meanwhile, Nqini testified that she called Mapholoba to come to work on December 23 and acknowledged that she made a mistake regarding the manual clocking.

Following the testimony, the arbitrator ruled in Mapholoba’s favour and substituted the dismissal with a final written warning valid for a year as well as a backpay of nearly four years.

The arbitrator said the dishonesty was minor and also considered the number of years Mapholoba had worked for the company.

It was also held that Mapholoba had a clean record.

Aggrieved by the ruling, Sibanye turned to the Labour Court to review it, arguing that the arbitrator failed to apply his mind when determining the appropriate sanction for dishonesty.

Sibanye said according to the company’s disciplinary code, dishonesty is a dismissible misconduct.

Moreover, the mining company said the award of backpay was capricious, unjustifiable, and patently unreasonable because of multiple delays caused by Mapholoba’s legal representative.

The presiding officer, acting judge Moses Baloyi noted that Mapholoba reported to work because he was called by Nqini. His evidence was corroborated by Nqini who further acknowledged that she was the one who flaunted the manual clocking process.

Judge Baloyi said it was understandable why the CCMA ruled in favour of Mapholoba hence the review application should fail.

However, the judge said he won’t ignore the delays caused by Mapholoba’s legal representatives because without the delays, the full backpay would probably not have exceeded a year.

“Had it not been for the delays occasioned, the arbitration could have been finalised within a year. With the material placed before him, including the guilty finding, full backpay to the date of dismissal should not have been awarded.”

Judge Baloyi upheld Mapholoba’s reinstatement with six months’ remuneration.

sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za

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