The Department of Education in the Northern Cape was ordered to pay a school principal his three months salary after he was fired for the school’s poor performance.
Neo Legoshe was appointed as the principal of Homevale High School in Kimberley in January 2018.
He said the school had lots of challenges and was sitting at 53% of performance.
According to Legoshe, he encountered a lot of resistance from the staff and they made it clear that they were not going to rest until he was removed from the school.
He was verbally abused by some of the educators in front of the school management and received no support from the department, even after reporting what he was encountering at the school.
He even opened a criminal case with the South African Police Service.
As a result of the situation, he said he was booked off due to stress and headaches.
In September 2018, he was admitted at the psychiatric hospital and was booked off until December 2018. While still on sick leave, the department served him with a letter that he will be placed on special leave effective on January 1, 2019 until March 31, 2019 with his full salary.
He said the reasons provided for placing him on special leave was to allow the department to conclude an investigation of poor work performance/ill-health and grievances submitted by him.
It was his evidence that the department informed him not to report for duty on April 1, 2019 and they will come back to him.
He further stated that he enquired from his immediate supervisor about the situation and she promised to return to him, but she never did. He remained home for the whole month of April 2019.
Towards end of of May 2019, he received a letter from the department extending his special leave.
In August 2019, he was served with a letter terminating his employment effective September 1, 2019.
Legoshe appealed the decision to terminate his services with the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) and the appeal was finalised in May 2020, and he was reinstated but had to wait for another nine months before he was allowed to resume his duties.
He returned to work after nine months and nothing was said to him, hence he regarded the conduct as unfair suspension.
He stated that the issue had a negative impact on his life, family, studies, integrity, finances, and image.
He further stated that his integrity was tarnished when the local newspaper published an article about the happenings at the school.
An arbitrator at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), Selolong Mosoma, said Legoshe should be compensated for three months salary which is R147,000.
“This is because I take into consideration the suspension was more punitive than precautionary. There was no basis for it being so prolonged for 820 days. The suspension was humiliating and had a negative impact on Legoshe’s integrity and reputation. It also impaired his dignity,” said Mosoma.
Mosoma said failure to comply with the award the amount will accrue interest in line with the provisions of the Labour Relations Act.
IOL