A Senior Grants Administrator at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), NN, has lost his bid to overturn his dismissal after the Labour Appeal Court found that he had assaulted his manager and committed gross insubordination. NN was dismissed in November 2020 for misconduct, following an incident at SASSA's Vulindlela Local Office in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, in August 2019. The dispute arose from an incident involving a social grant application for a child's grandson.
The incident involved a woman who had been assisted with a social grant application for her grandson, which was declined due to the child's father being alive and living with the child. The woman returned to the office with her niece to complain about the treatment she received. NN's manager, Mr M, called him into his office to explain what had happened, but NN refused to explain the matter in front of the two women and asked them to leave. Mr M refused, leading to an escalation of the situation.
The situation escalated when NN suddenly got up and struck Mr M, with one of the women intervening to prevent a fight. Mr M reported the incident to the police, and NN was subsequently suspended and faced disciplinary proceedings. NN denied assaulting his manager, claiming there was only a "wrestling with the door" as he tried to leave. However, witnesses testified that NN had pushed or hit Mr M in the chest.
NN was charged with three allegations relating to the incident, including assault, breaching SASSA's code of conduct and ethics, and bringing the agency into disrepute. He was found guilty on two charges and dismissed in November 2020. His internal appeal was unsuccessful, and he referred an unfair-dismissal dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). The commissioner found that the dismissal was substantively and procedurally fair.
The commissioner rejected NN's version of events, finding that he had changed his account and failed to make concessions about facts supported by evidence. The commissioner concluded that SASSA had proved, on a balance of probabilities, that NN had assaulted Mr M. NN took the matter to the Labour Court, seeking to have the arbitration award reviewed and set aside, but the court dismissed his application.
The Labour Appeal Court ultimately found that the evidence of witnesses complemented each other, and NN's own statement to the police supported the finding that he had assaulted Mr M. The court noted that NN had refused to explain the complaint in front of the complainant, had become involved in a struggle over the door, and had disobeyed his manager's instruction. The appeal court rejected NN's argument that the evidence did not establish an assault.
The Labour Appeal Court concluded that the commissioner's decision to dismiss NN was warranted, and that the dismissal was both substantively and procedurally fair. The court ordered that there be no order as to costs. The dismissal was upheld, citing gross insubordination and assault as reasons for the decision.
Key points
- The Labour Appeal Court upheld the dismissal of a SASSA worker for assaulting his manager and committing gross insubordination.
- The incident involved a dispute over a social grant application and escalated into a physical altercation between the worker and his manager.
- The court found that the dismissal was both substantively and procedurally fair, and that the worker's conduct warranted the decision.
