The Labour Court in Cape Town has thrown out an employer’s attempt to cancel a R46,800 award to a worker it fired while he was ill.
Judge Robert Lagrange dismissed the review application by Coast & Country Sales (Pty) Ltd against an arbitration award in favour of Shaun Zachary Baard. The company must also pay Baard’s legal costs.
In a judgment dated November 11, 2026, the court agreed with the arbitrator. The arbitrator had found that Baard’s dismissal for alleged desertion was unfair in both substance and procedure.
The court said a worker who keeps talking to the employer, explains his physical limits and tries to send medical papers cannot simply be treated as someone who walked away from his job.
Baard started working for the company as a beverage merchandiser in December 2017. He later hurt his right wrist and arm several times at work.
The injuries needed surgery and ongoing physical therapy. He and his employer also disagreed over light duties and paperwork linked to his compensation claim.
In May 2019, Baard collapsed on his way home from work. He had severe spinal pain and could not move his legs. He was admitted to hospital and a doctor booked him off work.
Later medical checks recorded back pain, weak legs, depression and anxiety. Further medical evidence pointed to mobility problems linked to his mental health.
The company grew doubtful about his condition, especially after an MRI scan showed nothing wrong with his spinal cord. According to the judgment, the employer seemed to decide he was faking or exaggerating his illness. It did this without getting independent medical advice.
In June 2019, the company started disciplinary steps against Baard. It accused him of being absent without permission, being rude to a retail client and damaging the company’s name.
That hearing was postponed after his representative said Baard was bedridden, in severe pain and unable to attend.
On July 25, 2019, the company sent him a notice to return to work. It asked for an acceptable medical certificate or a date when he would come back.
Baard replied within the seven days he was given. He said he was struggling with money and was trying to see a psychologist at a public health facility. He also sent medical information showing possible depression and anxiety, and that he needed help to move around.
The company said his documents were not enough. It fired him on August 13, 2019, for failing to return to work or give an acceptable medical reason.
Before the Labour Court, the company argued that the arbitrator wrongly accepted Baard’s reasons and did not properly weigh the medical evidence. It said his absence amounted to desertion.
Judge Lagrange said Baard stayed at his known home address during his illness. He kept in regular contact with the company’s human resources department and his representative.
The court said the company should have gone ahead with the disciplinary inquiry it had already started. Instead, it ended his job without a hearing.
The judgment said an employer who doubts a worker’s illness should use the incapacity procedure. That process checks whether the illness is temporary or permanent and looks at reasonable ways to help the worker. Treating a sick worker as a deserter was wrong, the court said.
The arbitrator had awarded Baard 12 months’ pay, which came to R46,800. The court found the award was reasonable and that the company had shown no grounds to set it aside.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL. Image: IOL. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.