I made the cardinal mistake. I investigated the case of dishonesty/fraudulently taking money, on the Friday afternoon. The employee were very uncooperative and denied obvious proof of the unauthorized taking of money. I lost my cool and told the employee she leave me no choice but to dismiss and she must come get the paperwork after the weekend. An hour later I realized my error and phoned in the morning (Saturday), rectifying my error and told the employee it is a suspension and not dismissal and the paperwork to fetch on Monday is a notice of inquiry. The notice was fetched on Monday, but the employee refused to sign for receipt and a witness signed, all on video. Wednesday came, and she did not pitch. I send a sms to meet to set another date and time. Thursday, she went to the CCMA.

I understand that it is imperative to follow procedure. My question, was there any case previously with similar circumstances? (An investigation was done and the employee was given a chance to explain) Does the employer have no chance whatsoever to correct the situation? In this case it was rectified in less than 24 hours and the CCMA was approached a day after the inquiry was supposed to happen. According to the Commissioners, a nonprocedural dismissal did happen and the best remedy is to reach an agreement in conciliation phase.