Woolworths ordered to reinstate workers
Woolworths says the positions no longer exist; the Constitutional Court says they do — whether on a full-time or flexi-time basis
The South African Commercial and Catering Workers’ Union (Saccawu) succeeded on Tuesday in having dozens of employees that were dismissed by Woolworths in 2012 reinstated by the Constitutional Court. The union approached the top court following a decision of the labour appeal court that only awarded the workers remuneration compensation for being unfairly dismissed by the company when it converted their contracts from full-time contracts of employment to a flexible working hours system. The compensation was for 12 months’ pay. In its leave to appeal, Saccawu also wants the court to rule that the dismissals were procedurally unfair. Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, justice Sisi Khampepe said, in the unanimous ruling, that the court found that Woolworths’ argument that it was “not reasonably practicable” to reinstate the employees meant the exercise was a “mere inconvenience”. The company argued that the posts from which the workers were dismissed had ceased to exist. “I do not agr...
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