A former employee at retail giant, Woolworths, lost her appeal at the Labour Court after she was dismissed for calling two black cashiers dumb.
Gladys Arunachellam, who worked as a supervisor, was employed by Woolworths for 28 years.
She was fired in May 2019 following a disciplinary hearing which lasted only for 15 minutes.
She went to the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) where the matter could not be resolved, and a certificate of non-resolution was issued.
She then sought relief at the Labour Court in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal where she wanted to be reinstated with a back pay.
During the hearing, Omar Taarik Divan, who was a trainee at the time, testified that on March 14, 2019, he and Claudia Govender, another trainee, were working at the textile tills and the Pay Point Controller, Sherryl Jessica Balaise asked Arunachellam to take them to customer service tills and Arunachellam said they would rather not come that week because she had dumb people working at the tills.
Govender also testified and gave the same statement given by Divan.
A store manager, Nivashni Bramdeo who also acted as the chairperson during Arunachellam's disciplinary hearing, testified that employees were very upset and said Arunachellam showed no remorse over her actions.
Another store manager, Dennis Mkhize said the incident was reported to him by an aggrieved employee, Phumelela Kweyama.
He testified that Kweyama said that she was coming back from lunch when she saw Arunachellam standing with Sheryl, and the two trainees, Taarik and Claudia and she overhead Sheryl telling Arunachellam to take Taarik and Claudia because she was done with them in her department.
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