A code of conduct refers to a set of policies and rules for employees and employers to follow at the workplace. Often, a company uses its core values, including its mission, to guide the creation of these codes. These guidelines outline how people can appropriately interact with one another at work and defines what constitute acts of misconduct at the workplace and how to discipline offenders and the appropriate penalty among other things.
Section 101(1) of the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) provides for registration of an employment code of conduct by an employment council which is an industry sector code or by a works council which is a workplace code.
Under the new law brought into effect by the Labour Amendment Act Number 11 of 2023 every employment code of conduct shall be subject to review after every five years, and the provisions of the introduced section shall apply with regards to the registration of a reviewed employment code of conduct. (See Section 101(10) of the Act)
If, after the lapse of the five years a registered employment code of conduct has not been reviewed within three months of the lapse of the five-year period, the employment code of conduct shall be deemed deregistered which makes it an unregistered code of conduct. (See Section 101 (11) of the Act)
Once a code of conduct is deregistered it means that no disciplinary proceedings can be validly conducted in terms of it. The employer will have to resort to the industry code and in its absence the Model Code (S.I 15 of 2006). Where an employee is charged under, and disciplinary proceedings held in terms of, an unregistered code of conduct, the proceedings are not only a nullity but the court or arbitrator seized with such a matter can mero motu raise the issue.
The review of the employment code of conduct is meant to check compliance of the code with matters provided in terms of Section 101(3) of the Labour Act. The Section provides that the an employment code shall provide for;
(a) the disciplinary rules to be observed in the undertaking, industry or workplace concerned, including the precise definition of those acts or omissions that constitute misconduct;
(b) the procedures to be followed in the case of any breach of the employment code;
(c) the penalties for any breach of the employment code, which may include oral or written warnings, fines, reductions in pay for a specified period, suspension with or without pay or on reduced pay, demotion and dismissal from employment;
(d) the person, committee or authority that shall be responsible for implementing and enforcing the rules, procedures and penalties of the employment code;
(e) the notification to any person who is alleged to have breached the employment code that proceedings are to be commenced against him in respect of the alleged breach;
(f) the right of a person referred to in paragraph (e) to be heard by the appropriate person, committee or authority referred to in paragraph (d) before any decision in his case is made;
(g) a written record or summary to be made of any proceedings or decisions taken in terms of the employment code, which record or summary shall be made at the time such proceedings and decisions are taken.
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