Incapacity in labour law is the non-blameworthy breach of a workplace/performance standard, i.e. the employee is unable to comply / the lack of performance is not due to his/her fault.
The existence or otherwise of capability and fault / blameworthiness for the lack of performance on the part of the employee determines whether one is dealing with misconduct or incapacity. This distinction is important to determine which procedure should be followed in the given situation in terms of the Labour Relations Act, i.e. Discipline (misconduct) or Counselling (incapacity).
The following documents outline pro forma policies for dealing with incapacity due to poor performance or ill-health. ISASA member schools are not required to make use of these policies; they are provided by way of example. As Pro Forma (standardised draft) documents, these policies should also be appropriately and properly customised by the user to suit their requirements.
