Law protects workers who commit offences due to illness or disability
Alcohol abuse, if caused by addiction, is seen as an illness and precludes summary dismissal
It is legally very dangerous for employers to discipline and fire employees who commit offences due to illness or disability. For example, an employee who uses alcohol or narcotics and becomes addicted is legally classified as being ill and is protected by law. Section 6 of the Employment Equity Act prohibits unfair discrimination against employees on the grounds of disability or illness. This means that an employer may not discriminate against an employee merely due to the fact that the employee is disabled. In fact the same act obliges employers to find ways of recruiting and seeking ways to accommodate people with disabilities. Furthermore, section 187(1)(f) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) reads that, “A dismissal is automatically unfair if … the reason for the dismissal is … that the employer unfairly discriminated against an employee, directly or indirectly, on any arbitrary ground, including, but not limited to race, gender, sex, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orien...
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