Employer-generated complaints to the statutory registration authority: The regulatory framework for the supervision of employed health professionals in the South African public sector

Abstract

Work as an employed health professional comes with a great number of challenges. Health professionals are often oblivious to the legal and regulatory framework that governs their employment situation. At least three legal frameworks are of relevance in each employer-employee relationship in the South African public healthcare sector, namely the Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Act and the profession-specific Acts such as the Health Professions Act, the Nursing Act or the Pharmacy Act, respectively. Starting with two cases where the profession-specific Act has been used by the employer against the employed health professional, rather than the legislation regulating the employer-employee relationship, it will be illustrated how the three Acts and their regulatory environment are structured. Based on this illustration, the impact that the creation of employer-generated complaints has on the employer-employee relationship, and on the system at large, will be discussed.