Good day everyone, and welcome to another discussion in our “What if” series, where we bring you insights, in the format of a “what if” question, on the ever-evolving landscape of employment law.
I am [Name] from Maserumule Corporate Employment Law, and today we are unpacking:
What if a manager swears at a subordinate and physically stops her from walking away – is dismissal fair?
Most of us picture workplace assault as a punch or a shove. Here it was a hand on a shoulder – and the Labour Court had no hesitation in calling it assault. Let’s get into it.
Mr Lebi was an operations manager at DSV Solutions. In December 2022, a subordinate, Ms Van der Merwe, insisted on working overtime. Lebi refused. She would not accept his decision, and an argument followed.
Both of them swore. Lebi told her to stop interrupting him – with the f-word thrown in – and she used the same word freely in return. When she turned to walk away, Lebi put his hand – or hands – on her shoulders to turn her back. Two colleagues saw it.
Both employees were charged and dismissed. Lebi faced two charges: abusive language and assault.
Lebi did not deny what he had done. He disputed only the detail – once rather than three times, one hand rather than two. His case at the CCMA was simply that dismissal was too harsh.
The commissioner found the dismissal fair. The code prohibited swearing and assault, Ms Van der Merwe had also been dismissed, and Lebi had infringed her constitutional rights.
On review, Lebi argued that he was provoked, that there was no evidence of a trust breakdown, no zero-tolerance policy, and that he had been treated inconsistently.
The Labour Court, in a judgment handed down in August 2026, rejected every one of them.
First, assault. It was common cause that Lebi tried to physically turn Ms Van der Merwe around as she walked away. One hand or two, the Court said, that is assault. No injury and no intention to hurt is needed. Physically stopping someone from leaving a confrontation is enough.
Second, provocation. Lebi’s own evidence was that they worked in a high-volume, volatile environment. If that is the standard, the Court said, provocation is no excuse. It only helps where any reasonable manager would have reacted the same way, and never where the conduct was aggressive rather than defensive. Lebi was the aggressor.
Third, trust. The employer led no evidence that trust had broken down, and the Court held it didn’t need to. Where misconduct is serious enough that any employer would lose trust, the breakdown can be inferred. A manager’s conduct toward a female subordinate, in front of other employees, cannot be tolerated.
Fourth, zero tolerance. No rule requires a zero-tolerance policy before dismissal can follow. Where the misconduct is serious, the employee is senior, and he does not appreciate that he was wrong, dismissal is a reasonable response. And where inconsistency is raised, the gravity of the misconduct remains the critical factor.
The review was dismissed.
So what should employers take from this?
- One – physical contact need not cause harm to be assault. Touching an employee to stop them leaving an argument crosses the line.
- Two – provocation is a narrow defence. “She swore first” does not help the aggressor, and a rough workplace culture makes the plea weaker, not stronger.
- Three – on trust, serious misconduct can speak for itself. But still have a witness address seniority, the impact on the team, and why the relationship cannot continue.
- Four – you do not need a zero-tolerance rule to dismiss for a first offence of this kind. But set the standard anyway, in your code and in supervisor training.
- Five – charge precisely and even-handedly. DSV charged both participants, which closed the door on the inconsistency argument. And defuse overtime disputes early, with clear allocation criteria and a route to escalate a refusal.
Production pressure does not lower the standard expected of those who manage it. The moment a manager lays hands on an employee to stop her walking away, the argument is no longer about who swore first.
That brings us to the end of this week’s discussion. Thank you for joining us.
If you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you – find us on social media, or email me at
ross@masconsulting.co.za.
Until next time – good-bye.
