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TimesLIVE reports that a teacher who resigned after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a pupil attempted to evade accountability by arguing that the Northern Cape education department no longer had jurisdiction to discipline him. However, the department rejected his resignation and ordered him to appear before a disciplinary panel.
When he failed to attend, the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) proceeded in his absence, ultimately finding him guilty of misconduct and dismissing him. In its ruling, the council relied on Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court precedents confirming that an employer retained the power to discipline an employee who resigned immediately after being served with notice of a disciplinary hearing. The courts have also held that a resignation with immediate effect does not automatically end the employment relationship when a contractual notice period applies.
“In following the legal principles set out in the above precedents, I find that the employer had the right not to accept the employee’s immediate resignation and repudiation of his employment contract and the notice period contained therein,” ELRC commissioner David Pietersen said in his award issued last week. Based on the evidence before him, Pietersen found Mdze, who had been based at a high school in Galeshewe, Kimberley, guilty of contravening the Employment of Educators Act by engaging in a sexual relationship with a pupil.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLIVE
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