Dismissal Gone Wrong

Celesté Snyders | SchoemanLaw Inc  

Category: Labour Law  

Introduction  

Unfair discrimination based on pregnancy is prohibited in terms of South African Labour Laws, yet in a recent case, Cape Town Labour Court ordered Quoin Rock Wines to back pay R800 000 to former financial manager Melissa Brandt for unfair dismissal relating to her pregnancy.  

Brandt fell pregnant in September 2019 and informed the CEO in January 2020 that she would go on maternity leave in May of that same year. However, Brandt fell ill two days before she needed to do her hand-over, so she was hospitalised. Brandt gave birth and remained in the hospital until 28 May 2020, when she and the baby were discharged on 12 June 2020.  

In the judgment, it makes reference to the fact that Brandt worked while she was in hospital doing handovers and took work calls. However Brandt and the infant was hospitalised shortly thereafter. She informed the CEO that she would no longer be available until the end of her maternity leave. This frustrated the CEO, he couldn’t understand why Brandt could not be involved in the day-to-day running of the company, but she was available for photoshoots with her new born.  

Brandt return to work after her maternity leave and she was informed by the CEO that her position has become redundant. Shortly thereafter, she received her retrenchment notice. Brandt challenged the position, as the company wanted to reinstate her on a lower salary.  

Conclusion  

The issue here was not that Brandt was unavailable on the day-to-day running of the company, but that she went and had a photoshoot and dropped the CEO when she went on maternatity leave. The fact that the CEO issued Brandt with a retrenchment notice when she came back from maternity leave, was the incorrect process to follow, together with employing her in a lower. The Labour Court found that the employee was dismissed for a reason related to her pregnancy, which was automatically unfair. Employers must ensure that they do not unfairly discriminate against women employees on the grounds of pregnancy. They must ensure that they do not dismiss women employees for reasons relating to their pregnancy, which may fall squarely within the ambit of automatically unfair dismissal. Failure by employers to do so may result in the courts ordering them to pay a hefty amount in compensation.  

Celesté Snyders | SchoemanLaw IncAttorneywww.schoemanlaw.co.za