You are responsible for your actions in employment law

The excuse that it was ‘your superior’s’ or ‘management’s fault’ – or that you were merely acting on instructions even though you knew it was wrong or would have foreseen the consequences of your action - will not save your job. The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the Labour Court (LC) illustrated this point in National Union of Mineworkers obo Vangile / Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (2018) 27 CCMA 8.14.1.

• The employee, an electrician, was dismissed for cutting safety locks at a substation. As a result it allowed current to flow down a line that was under repair.

• The employee had challenged his dismissal on review. The Labour Court remitted the matter to the CCMA to determine if dismissal was the appropriate sanction.

The employee’s claim – that he had merely obeyed an instruction – left out the fact that he was himself bound by safety regulations and ignoring these could have placed the lives of workers in danger. Via his actions, the employee had in fact disrupted production at a major factory in the area.

• In the enquiry the employee had steadfastly put the blame on his supervisor and senior management. The reviewing court had found that the extent to which blame could be allocated between the employee and his supervisor was “debatable”.

• The Court had also found that the employee was responsible for restoring isolators to the correct position, which he had not done. This rendered the employee’s conduct grossly negligent. He could not hide behind the supervisor’s instruction.

• The employee had also admitted he was entitled to refuse to obey his supervisor’s instruction. There were good reasons for the employer to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy to negligence of this order. The employee’s persistent denial of wrongdoing indicated that progressive discipline would have served no purpose.

• The employee’s dismissal was upheld.

The employment environment expects employees to take responsibility for their actions. You can refuse an instruction that could put other employees at risk and would not be dismissed for doing so.

Jonathan Goldberg is CEO of Global Business Solutions