{"id":2940,"date":"2024-09-11T10:47:11","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T08:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/?p=2940"},"modified":"2024-09-11T10:47:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T08:47:11","slug":"when-can-an-employee-be-disciplined-for-unethical-conduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/09\/11\/when-can-an-employee-be-disciplined-for-unethical-conduct\/","title":{"rendered":"When can an employee be disciplined for unethical conduct?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2941\" srcset=\"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png 999w, https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-300x105.png 300w, https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-768x268.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any behaviour that violates moral principles, company policies, laws and regulations, or professional standards is considered unethical.&nbsp; Employers should assess the severity of unethical behaviour by evaluating factors such as the impact, intent, frequency, and whether it involves a breach of laws or policies, as well as its effect on the trust relationship between the parties.&nbsp; By considering these factors, employers can discipline the employee by following its own disciplinary code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While unethical behaviour is blameworthy wrongs in the eyes of society, it can in some instances also constitute illegal conduct, or then, it may also satisfy the definition of a crime.&nbsp; This happens because the law and ethical values do not always fully align.&nbsp; For example, dismissing striking workers for a wage strike because the strike results in economic losses to the company is considered illegal, but it is not unethical conduct.&nbsp; Furthermore, victimisation or dismissal of an employee for joining a trade union and\/or taking part in a procedural strike is illegal and an unethical conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the workplace harmful behaviour that goes against the shared values of the company, can harm a positive work environment.&nbsp; Some common examples of unethical behaviour in the workplace include misleading communication, theft of company assets, fraud against the employer, dishonesty, harassment, illegal activities, using company resources for personal gain, alcohol and drug abuse, and increased absenteeism.&nbsp; When an employee engages in unethical behaviour, the employer should take immediate action.&nbsp; It is essential to conduct a thorough investigation to assess the extent of the behaviour.&nbsp; Based on the severity of the situation, the employer may choose to issue a warning or terminate the employee\u2019s employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to manage the conduct of the employee, the employer should design its own Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct.&nbsp; A Code of Ethics provides moral guidelines for behaviour emphasizing the responsibilities of both employees and employer towards various stakeholders, including shareholders, colleagues, management, and customers.&nbsp; A Code of Conduct specifies unacceptable behaviours and outlines the consequences for such actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Employers are encouraged to contact to consult a reputable Labour Law Practitioner to advise on how to deal with unethical behaviour of employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Any behaviour that violates moral principles, company policies, laws and regulations, or professional standards is considered unethical.&nbsp; Employers should assess the severity of unethical behaviour by evaluating factors such as &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2943,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions\/2943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}