Author: Nicky Hardwick
With AARTO phase two now live, traffic infringements are no longer just a personal issue for employees. For employers, especially those with drivers, sales teams, fleet vehicles, or employees who travel for work, this has now become a workplace compliance issue.
The demerit system is not yet live, but once it is implemented, repeated infringements may result in licence suspensions. This raises an important employment question: what happens when an employee can no longer legally drive?
Many employers may instinctively deal with this as incapacity – this however, may not always be correct.
Incapacity is generally a no-fault process that applies when an employee cannot perform due to illness, injury, poor performance, or another inability that is not necessarily their fault.
But where an employee is required to drive for a living, and through their own unlawful conduct causes their licence to be suspended, this is not simply no-fault incapacity. The employee’s own conduct has removed a legal requirement needed to perform the job. A truck driver, bus driver, or courier who loses their licence is not in the same position as an employee who becomes medically unable to work. They knew, or certainly should have known, that a valid licence was essential to the role.
This does not mean employers can dismiss automatically – a fair process is still required. The employer must consider the facts, the role, the length of the suspension, the operational impact, the employee’s explanation, and any mitigating factors when deciding on the next step.
There is also a difference between a driver and an employee whose role merely includes some ad hoc driving. A sales person may still be able to do parts of the job remotely or telephonically. But even then, if the licence suspension was caused by the employee’s own unlawful conduct, the employer is entitled to consider the impact on the business.
The key point is this: employers should update contracts, fleet policies, travel policies, and disciplinary codes immediately. Employees who drive for work must understand that maintaining a valid licence is part of their employment obligation.
AARTO will force employers to deal more directly with driving conduct – or in this case, misconduct. Where an employee’s own conduct causes them to lose the legal ability to perform their job, employers should be cautious about treating it as ordinary incapacity.
Sometimes the issue is not that the employee cannot do the job, it is that their own conduct has made it impossible for them to do it.
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