UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

ROYAL ROAD, MARACAS, ST. JOSEPH.

Assignment Three

An Assignment
Presented in Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the course
MGMT341-01: Business Law

Instructor: Ms. Keisha Peters

By

Kerdean Matthews

November 28th 2022

Approval...........................
Jasmine and Benny who are employees at Best Bank. Jasmine has been employed for fifteen

years while Benny has been employed for two years. Jasmine is a good employee and is often

awarded “Employee of the Year”. The company security checks reveal Jasmine and Benny’s

plot. They would credit clients’ monies to their accounts to receive interest and then transfer

the funds back to clients. Benny is fired immediately, and Jasmine gets suspension without

salary for six months. Management decides for Jasmine to resume work; however, she is

demoted to a clerk. Management also posts Jasmine’s picture in all the bank’s offices with a

statement “Example of dishonesty and lack of integrity would not be tolerated” Jasmine

decides to leave the bank which refuses to give her a reference for another job.

Legal Issues arising from scenario:

1. Whether Best Bank did not perform their duty of trust and confidence and cause

emotional stress for Jasmine?

2. Whether Jasmine’s suspension was just and fair?

3. Whether Jasmine resignation can be a constructive dismissal?

When an employee breaches their employment contract by engaging in activity that can be

considered serious misconduct, the employer can either take disciplinary action or dismiss the

employee. Jasmine’s misconduct caused her to fail in the duty of good faith to her employers.

In turn, Best Bank also fail to perform their contractual duty to Jasmine. Instead, her

employers undermined Jasmine’s trust and confidence reference made to Malik v BCCI. This

was done when Best Bank plastered Jasmine’s picture throughout the company labelling her

as dishonest and lacking integrity. This is an inappropriate choice of discipline since it

promotes public embarrassment and can be damaging to a person’s image. This event would

have contributed to Jasmine’ emotional stress. Her employers no longer created a peaceful

work environment for her.

Even though Best Bank did not dismiss Jasmine for her misconduct, her suspension was still

deemed unfair. An employee can only be suspended once there is a disciplinary enquiry

reference to Mogothle v Premier of the Northwest Province. Instead, Jasmine was

immediately suspended before receiving a fair hearing as stated in the company’s handbook.

Jasmine was not given the opportunity to tell her side of the story. This created a contractual

breach by her employers and is an unfair labour practice. Jasmine can seek legal recourse for

this unfair labour practice. Another thing to note is that Jasmine was suspended without pay

when it is known that a company suspend employees with pay once conducting

investigations.

All Best Bank’s unfair conduct forced Jasmine to resign. Her resignation would fall under

constructive dismissal. Constructive dismissal occurs when the conduct of an employer

obligates an employee to cut their employment relationship refer to Wadham Stringer

Commercials v Brown. Constructive dismissal can also give Jasmine legal rights to claim

compensation for damages causes due to unreasonable actions of her employers. Another

issue is the refusal to provide Jasmine with a reference to find another job. Once there is no

written rule in an employee’s contract about reference is not received due to misconduct

circumstances, Jasmine should be entitled to receive a reference and can take legal action for

this.

Conclusion

Even though Jasmine’s actions are one of gross misconduct. It is evident that the disciplinary

action she received was unjust. This is followed by the unfair treatment she experienced

when she returned to her job. Therefore, I would advise Jasmine to seek justice based on

constructive dismissal. The events caused emotional stress for Jasmine and could have been

damaging to her overall health. She had no choice but to leave Best Bank before it worsened.
 References

 Clayton. (2022, October 14). Can suspension lead to an unfair labour practice? Home

-. Retrieved November 19, 2022, from https://www.invictusgroup.co.za/can-

suspension-lead-to-an-unfair-labour-practice/

 Teacher, Law. (November 2013). Constructive Unfair Dismissal and Breach of

Contract. Retrieved from https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/employment-

law/constructive-unfair-dismissal.php?vref=1