What is the meaning of the word “dismissal” as set out in section 186 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA)?

Section 186 of the LRA provides the meaning of dismissal by describing six types of circumstances which may be defined as a “dismissal”:

1. Where an employer terminates employment summarily, without notice or by conduct, or terminates employment by giving an employee notice. This form of dismissal covers almost all forms of termination of employment by the employer.
2. Where an employee works on a fixed-term contract and the fixed-term expires, the employment terminates automatically. This is not a dismissal unless the employee had a reasonable expectation that the employer would renew the fixed-term contract or retain him/her on an indefinite basis and can substantiate that expectation, e.g. by showing that the employer had previously renewed similar contracts or had represented to the employee that the contract would be renewed, etc. Where an employer does renew a fixed-term contract or retains an employee on an indefinite basis, but on substantially less favourable terms and conditions, this may also amount to a form of dismissal.
3. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (BCEA) provides women employees with an entrenched right to “at least four months’ maternity leave”. Collective agreements and individual employment contracts may improve on this minimum right, but may not undermine it. An employee who takes maternity leave must be permitted to resume work at the end of her leave. An employer who does not allow an employee to return to work after this period of time is taken to have dismissed the employee.
4. Where an employer has dismissed a number of employees for the same or similar reason, such as collective misconduct, and later offers to re-employ some, but not others, the employees who are not included in the offer are taken to have been dismissed from the date they were not re-employed.
5. Where an employee terminates his/her employment by resigning, or simply walking out, because the employer made continued employment intolerable for the employee, this amounts to a dismissal and is referred to as a constructive dismissal.
6. After a business is transferred as a going concern or in circumstances of insolvency, the new employer replaces the old employer and employment of the employees continues. However, if the “transferred” employees are provided with conditions or circumstances of work that are substantially less favourable than had been provided by the old employer, an employee may resign, giving rise to a unique type of constructive dismissal.