PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
Part 3
Employee Relations
Within A Vet Practice
Andrew Christie
BComm (Industrial Psychology)
This article is the third in a series of three which deal with maintaining
positive and mutually fulfilling employee relations within a Vet Practice.
The first article dealt with the start of the employment
relationship (recruitment, selection and appointment);
the second explored the managing of the employment relationship (performance management, the
grievance procedure and the creation of an HR policy) and this, the third one, will examine the end of the
employment relationship (resignations and dismissals,
as well as the disciplinary procedure).
The employment relationship can be terminated for
various reasons:
a. On completion of agreed period or task
b. By mutual agreement
c. By notice
d. On grounds of impossibility of performance
e. Because of insolvency
1.Dismissal
Fair versus Unfair Dismissal
The following are considered by the labour courts to
be “fair” reasons for the termination of the employment contract:
• Misconduct
• Incapacity to perform job
• Operational requirements of the business
While most other reasons for dismissal will be unfair,
the following are the automatically unfair reasons that
apply to a vet practice:
• A worker is pregnant or intends to become pregnant
• An employer discriminated against a worker because of race, gender, sex, ethnic or social origin,
colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion,
conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language, marital status or family responsibility
• An employer cannot prove:
• a worker’s misconduct or inability
• that the employer’s operational needs are
valid
• that the dismissal procedure was fair
• Any other reasons
vet360
Issue 02 | APRIL 2016 | 4
April 2016 Vet360 for Madaleen Review.indd 4
2016/03/24 2:24 PM