PSHS433-11/12.pdf

NEHAWU represented two employees, Dlangamandla and Gumede, who were dismissed by the Department of Health: KZN on September 1, 2011. The employees had pleaded guilty to charges and agreed to a sanction of a final written warning and a three-month suspension without pay, suspended for three years, in a pre-hearing agreement. However, the chairperson of the hearing overturned this agreement and issued a sanction of dismissal without hearing evidence. The union argued that this was procedurally and substantively unfair, citing excessive delay in communicating the decision and the chairperson's failure to consider the plea bargain agreement and the employees' clean records. The union claimed that the sanction of dismissal was not appropriate, given the circumstances, and that the chairperson had no jurisdiction to overturn the pre-hearing agreement.