Is claiming overtime pay for time not worked an act of misconduct in Zimbabwe?

In general, overtime refers to work that is performed by an employee in excess of the contractual stipulated hours. Overtime work is normally performed where there is emergency work or when the exigencies of an employer so require.

There is a high premium placed on honesty in the workplace. Therefore, where an employee claims for overtime work not performed, this constitutes an act of misconduct. It is generally regarded as an act of dishonesty; fraud, misrepresentation and one could possibly say ‘theft of time’.

The Labour Court of South Africa in the case of NUM & Others v CCMA & Others [2011] ZALCJHB 177 dealt with a case in which some employees had been charged with and found guilty of two charges of leaving the workplace without clocking out; and representing that they clocked out at 16:30hours when they were in fact not on the mine premises at the time.

The Labour Court of South Africa dismissed the review and found that the arbitrator who had dealt with the matter was correct and that employees ought to have known that they were paid to work for the full duration of the shift and by absenting themselves they knew that they were “stealing their employer’s time”.