Can employers dismiss workers involved in looting?

Business owners who witnessed their life’s work being trashed and burnt before their eyes by their own employees have suffered massive damage, and also a complete break in trust between them and many of their employees.

The question is whether they are entitled to dismiss their off-duty employees for their participation in the looting and violence during the mayhem in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July.

According to Clyde Curran, candidate attorney at Miller Bosman Le Roux Attorneys, an employee’s conduct outside the workplace and after hours in most instances falls outside the scope of the employer’s authority.