Tag: constructive dismissal

A recent Labour Court judgment confirms that where employers fail to properly address grievances or mitigate the cause of an employee’s complaint, a constructive dismissal claim may succeed. In Makombe vs Cape Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists and Others, the Labour Court found that a pastor employed by the Cape Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (Cape Conference) experienced constructive dismissal.

When an employee proves that their resignation was not voluntary but forced by the employer’s conduct, it becomes a constructive dismissal. In the case of Makombe vs Cape Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists (Lex Info, 28 March 2025, Labour Court case number CO4/2023), Makombe - a female pastor - raised several workplace complaints.

​​​​​​In a recent judgment, Gold One Limited v Madalani and Others (JR 1109/15) [2020] ZALCJHB 180 (9 September 2020), the Labour Court confirmed that intolerability is a high threshold in constructive dismissal matters. Intolerability is more than a working environment or working under employment conditions that are difficult, unpleasant or stressful.

The [fake] case of state protection failing employment justice? Given how I have spent the last twenty or so years of my career, I tend at second blush when evaluating individuals in their careers to view them through an employment relations lens (and with those higher profile employees a bit of governance oversight thrown in).