A ruling by the Labour Court of South Africa has ordered the reinstatement of private wealth banker Ronaldo Giovanni Kleinsmith after finding that his dismissal was substantively unfair and partly based on invalid disciplinary charges.
The decision overturned an earlier award by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which had upheld the bank’s action. Acting Judge W. Jacobs reviewed and set aside the CCMA ruling, substituting it with an order declaring two of the three charges against Kleinsmith legally void and determining that the remaining charge did not justify dismissal.
Kleinsmith first joined Absa Bank in 2008 and later rose to the position of private wealth banker. He was retrenched in July 2021 but re-employed in December 2022 under a new contract.
In November 2023, the bank charged him with gross misconduct on three counts: failure to declare an outside business affiliation with Opulence Advice and Consulting (Pty) Ltd; use of an unapproved introducer; and disclosure of client information to a third party.
The second and third charges related to incidents alleged to have occurred in 2014, nearly a decade before his dismissal and under a previous employment contract that ended in 2021.
Following an internal process, he was found guilty and dismissed, with the CCMA initially affirming the decision. However, the Labour Court ruled that the bank had no legal authority to discipline him in 2023 for alleged misconduct under a contract that had already been terminated.
Judge Jacobs held that once an employment contract ends, an employer loses the right to institute disciplinary proceedings based on that contract. Consequently, charges two and three were declared invalid from the outset.
Regarding the remaining charge, failure to declare an outside business interest, the court found that Kleinsmith had disclosed the affiliation during recruitment and that the bank proceeded with his employment after assessing the risk. The judge further noted that Opulence ceased doing business with Absa after his re-employment and that the bank failed to demonstrate any actual harm resulting from the omission. Dismissal was therefore deemed disproportionate.
The court ordered Absa to reinstate Kleinsmith retrospectively, pay his back pay within 14 days, and issue a written warning instead of termination.
The judgment has attracted attention in Uganda, where Absa operates as Absa Bank Uganda under the supervision of the Bank of Uganda. Legal analysts note that Uganda’s Employment Act similarly requires both procedural and substantive fairness before dismissal, particularly in cases involving alleged misconduct dating back several years.
Observers say the ruling underscores the importance of strict adherence to labour law principles and careful handling of disciplinary processes within large financial institutions operating across multiple jurisdictions.
