Introduction

The Code accepts that the form of the employer’s disciplinary rules will vary according to size and the nature of the business. It nevertheless requires that the employer’s rules must be clear and that they must be made available to employees so that there is certainty as to what the employer expects from them and what sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.

Larger employers usually have a written disciplinary code and procedure. This disciplinary code and procedure set out the procedure to be followed when the employer takes disciplinary action against an employee. The employer’s code (not to be confused with the Code of Good Practise: Dismissal – Schedule 8 of the LRA) may also set out the disciplinary sanction (such as a warning, a final written warning or dismissal) for each type of disciplinary infringement.

These codes are often found on notice boards in the workplace, or copies are made available for inspection in the employer’s office. They may also be attached to employees’ contracts of employment on the employee’s commencement of employment or they may be communicated by other means such as e-mail.
A disciplinary code may take the form of a collective agreement between the employer and a trade union or unions, it may be a unilaterally imposed policy by the employer, or it may be incorporated into employees’ terms and conditions of employment.

Smaller employers often do not have written disciplinary codes. It is more difficult for them to bring the rules of conduct to the employees’ attention. Employers who do not have written disciplinary codes should inform the new employee of these rules. If the new employee is not fluent in the language used by the employer to explain the rules, the employer should translate them.

It also acknowledges that some rules of conduct may be so well established and known that it is unnecessary for the employer to communicate them to employees. Accordingly, the employee who breaches such a rule cannot argue that the rule does not appear in the written disciplinary code or, if no written code exists, that the employee was never informed of the rule.