Employee on Probation already taken excessive Sick Leave!

[MaGoose2010]

Good day

Advice needed

We have a young man, 18 y/o, who we have employed and his three month probation period ends at the end of this month, April 2017. We hoped to employ him full time after his probation as a Sales executive. He has been absent from work since 3 April to date (12 April) with a migraine problem. He has submitted a sick note (3 April to 5 April) issued by a 'Doctor' called 'Family Physician' (no name on certificate) with a practice number. Come 5th April, we were then told that he was admitted to hospital and we have now received a photocopy of his Prescription on a hospital letterhead with a note written at the bottom from the Doctor saying he is booked off for a further 10 days following being admitted for a Vascular Headache. Whilst in hospital an MRI was done with no obvious cause of the migraines (this relayed to us by him).

This had greatly affected our sales for April as he is in Sales. It has affected his sales target for the month and collectively over the three months here he has only reached his set target once. And we are busy moving our shop too new premises. We don't feel that sick leave is owing to him, after taking 12 days off now. As mentioned before this is concerning going forward as we feel he was still in probation and if this becomes a trend we will then have a problem.

Do we extend his probation period, or give him a letter strongly advising that further sick leave that he may need to take going forward will take him into negative leave figures? How do we handle this one?

Advice appreciated

[IanF]

Hi Magoose
My opinion is if he is like this in probation it will probably get worse when probation is over. I would get rid of him before he is made full time. Others will help but I think sick leave for the first 6 months is 1 day for every 26 days worked so just work on that the rest is normal or unpaid leave.

[HR Solutions]

I totally agree with you Ian - you start off bad - it will only get worse. I would NOT extend the probation period !

[MaGoose2010]

Okay these are our thoughts exactly but are we legally able to decide not to employ him further based on his Sick Leave behaviour and do we not open ourselves to CCMA battles?

[PlatinumWealth.co.za]

Depends hey what if his a genuine honest person and this is all the truth.

Do you have any other suspicions and behavioral indicators making you believe this is a lie and his taking advantage?

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[Justloadit]

Probation simply means that. At the end of the probation period, counted from the first day he arrived.
A simple letter terminating his employment should suffice, provided there was a contract signed at the start period, explaining the requirements.

When he started employment, was he not advised of the probation????
Did you write up a contract and both parties signed with witnesses stating that this is a probation period contract, and that there is no guarantee of permanent employment when the time is up????

[MaGoose2010]

Not sure on his honesty have only known him for a couple of months. He is very lazy at work and constantly needs to be told to find sales, follow up on appointments etc. He sits around the whole day. He has complained of migraines but seems to work through them during the day. He decided on a Monday after having the weekend off and not pitching to work, to then go to the doctor and have them sorted out. Well 12 days later he has not returned to work yet and will apparently be back on 14th April.

[PlatinumWealth.co.za]

Not sure on his honesty have only known him for a couple of months. He is very lazy at work and constantly needs to be told to find sales, follow up on appointments etc. He sits around the whole day. He has complained of migraines but seems to work through them during the day. He decided on a Monday after having the weekend off and not pitching to work, to then go to the doctor and have them sorted out. Well 12 days later he has not returned to work yet and will apparently be back on 14th April.

In that case assuming he singed a contract that this a prohibition period you can send him a letter of termination without having to fear a ccma saga

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[Dave A]

Ian has covered your statutory liability in terms of paid sick leave, so one challenge off the list.

Okay these are our thoughts exactly but are we legally able to decide not to employ him further based on his Sick Leave behaviour and do we not open ourselves to CCMA battles?

I suggest you do not dismiss him "based on his sick leave behaviour"; rather talk to the failure to achieve agreed standards within the probation period.

If the employee takes you to the CCMA, so be it. Based on what you say here, it would seem you have a case to argue...

[MaGoose2010]

Good morning.
Just an update on this situation. We sent him a letter stating 2 things. Firstly his sick notes needed to be sorted out with the concerned Doctors as they were invalid. And secondly he was informed of what sick leave he had and how he had the possibility of an amount being deducted for unpaid leave for the difference. We also told him that his probation was up for renewal and that we would discuss this with him on his return. He then sent us a resignation letter saying that we had demotivated him with our letter in his time of illness and demanding that we pay out his salary and commission and also alleging that we had made him work overtime and not paid him out. We then emailed him back to say it was unfortunate that he had taken the letter up in this way as it was merely aimed at giving him the correct information of how this ordinarily should be done. And that is that I guess unless the little fool wants to take us on in the CCMA for whatever reason as we did not fire him or deduct anything from his remunerations yet.

[HR Solutions]

You have got a resignation signed letter I presume so you are in the clear.
A probation is exactly that as Dave said - after 3 months you part your ways. You really do not have to give reasons.

[Greig Whitton]

A probation is exactly that as Dave said - after 3 months you part your ways. You really do not have to give reasons.

Pretty much this.

There was an interesting Labour Court case earlier this year where a university professor on probation argued that he became a permanent employee once his probationary period expired because his services weren't officially terminated (the university took its sweet time conducting a post-probation performance review). However, he couldn't substantiate his claim that the university created a reasonable expectation of permanent employment following his probation, so the Labour Court struck down his appeal.

[MaGoose2010]

Thanks to all for the input. Will be back on here if there are any further developments! Have a great long weekend everyone