Mental illness in the workplace

In Jansen v Legal Aid South Africa (JA121/2014) [2018] ZALCCT 17, the employer charged an employee with misconduct for being absent from work without permission; transgressing the employer’s rules regulations, policies and procedures; and failing to inform his manager timeously of his absence from work. The employer found the employee guilty of the charges and dismissed the employee.

The employee suffered from depression. The employee argued that his dismissal was automatically unfair in terms of section 187(1)(f) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), and/ or that he had been unfairly discriminated against in terms of section 6 of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) based on his mental illness. The employee contended that had it not been for his mental illness, the employer would not have dismissed him or unfairly discriminated against him.

The Labour Court held that dismissing an employee as result of his mental illness was automatically unfair in terms of section 187(1)(f) of the LRA. The court further held that the treatment towards the employee because of his mental illness was unfair discrimination in terms of section 6 of the EEA.

The employer was ordered to reinstate the employee with retrospective effect, and to compensate the employee with an equivalent of 6 months’ salary.