Work relationships thrive through common understanding. Both parties involved i.e., employees and employers have guidelines that help shape the relationship and these are in the form of employment contracts and human resources policies.
Section 2 of the Employment Act defines the contract of employment as “an agreement, whether oral or in writing, expressed or implied, whereby one person agrees for a wage or other benefit or both to let his labour to and to perform it under the orders of another person who agrees to hire it”.
Human resources policies on the other hand are formal rules that clearly set out expectations from all the parties involved in an employment relationship. Disciplinary policies and procedures exist to outline what is to be done, should either employer or employee breach employment terms and conditions. Demotion is listed as a form of punishment should an employee “misbehave”. However, demotion is erroneously instigated by some employers without following proper procedure i.e., conducting a disciplinary hearing as well as linking it to a misconduct that ideally should not warrant it. To understand this better, read on!
Definition
According to the Oxford Dictionary, demotion is a “reduction in rank or status”. In even simpler terms, demotion is when an employee’s position is changed to a lower post. This normally comes as an alternative or substitute to a dismissal and employees in these situations are considered to have “dodged a bullet”. Ideally, the offence the employee would have committed would warrant dismissal, but they would end up receiving a less severe punishment.
The Errors
The first error is the fact that the procedure to be followed before an employee can be demoted is normally greatly overlooked. The process to be followed is conducting a fair disciplinary hearing. A disciplinary hearing is a formal meeting held to evaluate allegations of an employee’s misconduct. For this “meeting” to be considered a “fair hearing” the following must be present: it must be carried out in good faith by an unbiased chairperson, the employee must be given reasonable notice of when the hearing will be held i.e., at least 48 hours, every detail pertaining to the allegation(s) must be outlined in the notice, the employee must be given the option of being assisted or represented by a colleague, sufficient evidence must be provided, the employee must be allowed to question witnesses and bring some of their own, the employee must be given the opportunity to provide mitigating facts before the sanction and finally the employee must be awarded the opportunity to appeal against a sanction. Failure to ensure all of the above would completely remove the procedural fairness element from the act of demoting an employee. Therefore, it would be deemed wrongful.
The second error is that the reason supporting the demotion is at times not fitting. As with any other disciplinary action, there must be a reason and it must be fair and valid. This is to say during the disciplinary hearing, sufficient evidence must be provided, and it should point to the fact that the alleged misconduct was committed. A confirmed misconduct that would ordinarily warrant a dismissal can in turn lead to a demotion. Demotion is considered a less severe sanction to a dismissal therefore it should not be used in place of a misconduct that would otherwise warrant a less sanction to a dismissal.
Conclusion
Although there may be overwhelming evidence that confirms misconduct, an employee still ought to be provided with an opportunity to be heard before being demoted. The demotion must be backed by a valid and fair reason as well.
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