Termination of the employment contract due to ill-health in the public education sector

• Main Author: Hlekani, Mphakamisi Witness
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2014
• Subjects: Employees > Dismissal of; Collective labor agreements > Education
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020969

The subject of the present treatise concerns termination of employment contracts that are effected as a result of an employee’s incapacity on the grounds of ill-health or injury. Every employee has the right not to be dismissed unfairly. The Labour Relations Act, 1995 recognises three grounds on which termination of employment might be legitimate. These include the conduct of the employee, the capacity of the employee and the operational requirements of the employer’s business. However, fundamental to any contract of employment is the obligation that rests on an employee not to be absent from work without justification. The Incapacity Code and Procedure in respect of Ill-health or Injury applicable to Educators is contained in Schedule 1 to the Employment of Educators Act, 1998. In addition there are collective agreements which are the products of collective bargaining that are also applicable to all categories of employees employed in the public education sector. Notably, PSCBC Resolution 7 of 2000 forms part of the subject of our discussion. The Department of Education determined the use of independent Health-risk Managers to provide advice on the management of incapacity leave and ill-health retirement, thereby ensuring objective and impartial evaluation which are largely acceptable to employees and their labour representatives. This is the Policy and Procedure on Incapacity Leave and Ill-Health Retirement in the Public Service. The appointed Health-risk Managers make recommendations to the Head of Department who thereafter implement the recommendations and deal with issues of a case to absolute finality. More importantly, the Policy and Procedure for incapacity leave and ill-health retirement in the Public Service is issued in terms of legislation, that is, section 3(3) of the Public Service Act, 1994 and therefore is not a collective agreement. Under the circumstances, it is not always easy to determine a real dispute and an issue in dispute. Because of this uncertainty arbitrators often found that bargaining councils have no jurisdiction to entertain these disputes, while on the other hand some arbitrators opined that bargaining councils do have jurisdiction In this treatise the general principles of the employment contract, the legislative framework applicable in the public education sector in determining an application for temporary incapacity leave and ill-health retirement and procedural and substantive issues in the termination of employment contract due to ill-health are considered and explained. The legal questions around the issue of discretion exercised by the Head of Department in granting or declining applications for ill-health are also examined. The primary aim of the treatise is to provide a clear exposition of the rather complicated law relating to incapacity due to ill-health and injury in public education.