Eastern Cape Health will have to reinstate former Fort England psychiatric hospital CEO Dr Roger Walsh and back pay him three years’ salary and benefits after the Constitutional Court refused the department’s application for leave to appeal.
The department sought to appeal against a scathing Labour Appeal Court (LAC) judgment in April ordering Walsh’s reinstatement backdated to October 2018.
A Daily Dispatch report says in the LAC judgment, Judge JA Davis – with two other judges concurring – accused the department of caving in to ‘thuggish’ unions that had resorted to illegal and violent means to oust Walsh. The department sought to transfer an unwilling Walsh to another position in Bhisho while acknowledging that he had done nothing to deserve it. Walsh refused to take up the post and successfully challenged his transfer. Three years later, the apex court declined hearing the department’s appeal, ruling it had no reasonable prospect of success.
This week Walsh confirmed he was waiting for the Health Department’s instruction to return to work. His lawyers, Borman & Botha attorneys, had already written to the department’s lawyers asking when Walsh could return to duty, as he was ready to do so with immediate effect. But despite Walsh’s challenge to his effective dismissal, the department has already appointed another full time CEO.
After the Constitutional Court’s refusal to grant the department leave to appeal, the department is now obliged to pay him salary and benefits backdated to October 2018, regardless of when he is permitted to return.
The Daily Dispatch Pressreader article – Fort England CEO to be reinstated (open access)
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