Durban: A man who was fired for taking sick leave to attend a rugby match has opened a can of worms around trust issues between employees and employers.
According to an interview on eNCA, a labour law expert said the ruling which was upheld by the Labour Court underlined that such dishonesty is not countenanced.
Speaking on eNCA, Abigail Butcher said the Labour Appeal court really focused on the fact that the employee had been dishonest in the production of his medical certificate which stated that he was unfit to work for the entire day.
“It’s really a question of honesty and relationships between employer and employee and the way in which an employee taking leave affects that trust relationship between company and employee.”
In an earlier incident of a similar nature, a Pretoria woman earned herself a criminal record and a R2000 fine in 2014 for issuing her husband with a false medical certificate to submit to his employer.
Pretoria News reported that the mother of four was desperate for her husband not to lose a day’s pay.
“I was desperate to help him, as he was sick for a day, but his employer – the Hawks – wanted a medical certificate,” Ronel van Heerden told the Pretoria News.
“I took a medical certificate issued earlier to myself and Tippexed out the information, adding my husband’s name.”
She was charged for fraud.
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