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<\/p>\nAn employee refuses to obey what you think is a reasonable and lawful instruction, saying it\u2019s not in his job description. That it\u2019s not part of his job.<\/p>\n
Does the employee have a leg to stand on?<\/p>\n
Can you dismiss the employee for this refusal?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a CCMA case a little while back, an employee was dismissed for refusing to obey a lawful instruction. (NUM on behalf of Mphahlele v Coreslabs CCMA Arbitration LP5695-11)<\/em><\/p>\n The Supervisor of this company asked an employee on two occasions to clean a trench that had been dug by an excavator.<\/p>\n The employee refused saying that he felt the instruction was unlawful. Because he said, he had originally been employed as a shutter hand. And was given a memorandum (job description) outlining his job function.<\/p>\n Later, he was transferred to the maintenance section where his job was to clean the workshop and ablution facilities, plant trees and dig holes.<\/p>\n He refused to clean the trench because he claimed he was not supposed to do any other job except that described in the memorandum. He denied that his job description included digging trenches and planting trees. And said that management had even wished him good luck in his job as a shutter hand.<\/p>\n The CCMA Commissioner stated that a job description is not cast in stone. And employees cannot expect that a job description can never be changed. However he found that in these circumstances the dismissal was inappropriate.<\/p>\n The dismissal was unfair and the employee was reinstated.<\/p>\n The lesson you can learn from this case is:<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, why not get FREE updates in your inbox once a month\u2026SEE THE BOX BELOW THIS ARTICLE to subscribe. You\u2019ll get valuable advice on all employee matters on a regular basis.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe newsletter is short, to the point and insightful! Thank you for the updates!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Terri Da Silva (LeadHome)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cKim is great at understanding an HR situation and gives the best advice.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Jerry Lee (Silversoft)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An employee refuses to obey what you think is a reasonable and lawful instruction, saying it\u2019s not in his job description. That it\u2019s not part of his job. Does the employee have a leg to stand on? Can you dismiss the employee for this refusal? In a CCMA case a little while back, an employee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[649],"class_list":["post-1614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-employee-misconduct","tag-refusal-to-obey-instruction","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\n\n