EOH Abantu (Pty) Ltd provided payroll administration services to Wesbank. The third respondent, Brett Danney, was employed by EOH as a team leader for Microsoft server administrators and worked on Wesbank systems. Wesbank had purchased Microsoft software volume licence keys for internal use only and prohibited third-party use. In 2011, Danney assisted his girlfriend’s mother by emailing her Microsoft Office activation keys. While he initially sent publicly available beta keys, he later mistakenly sent a Wesbank volume licence key downloaded from EOH’s server. This conduct was detected by internal forensic investigators. Danney was charged under the Wesbank disciplinary code with dishonesty-related offences, including unauthorised removal and distribution of licence keys and breach of confidentiality. Although dishonesty was not proved, he was dismissed for gross negligence. The CCMA commissioner found the dismissal substantively unfair because Danney had not been charged with negligence. The Labour Court upheld that finding, leading to the appeal to the Labour Appeal Court.