Dishonesty is a thorny issue to tackle

  
Ivan Israelstam
Dishonesty in the workplace can take many different forms including:
 

• Stealing of the employer's money out of the till, petty cash box or safe
• Taking of business merchandise
• Unauthorised and undisclosed use of employer's equipment
• False claims of illness as reason for absence from work
• Punching an absent employee's clock card
• Getting another employee to punch one's clock card in ones absence
• Falsifying of cheques, invoices, quotations or business documents
• Embezzlement of the employer's funds
• Misrepresentation or falsification of employment qualifications or other credentials
• Fraud. For example, selling the employer's merchandise or services and charging the client privately for own gain
• Telling lies to cover up work errors or for other reasons
• Secretly competing with the employer by engaging in own business in the same field
• Receiving bribes

Was the trust really destroyed?
 

• Was the position that the employee occupied one where trust was a key factor. For example, did the employee work without supervision or with company funds?
• Was there an alternative corrective measure available short of dismissal?
• Has the employer acted consistently. For example, have other employees, committing similar offences, been dismissed due to
  the destruction of the employment relationship?

• Ivan Israelstam is chief executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. Contact him via email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 011-888-7944.
• Our thanks to Ivan and The Star newspaper for allowing us to reproduce their info