Cape Town – A former Total South Africa employee who was retrenched in 2014 has won a civil claim in the Johannesburg Labour Court relating to post-retirement medical benefits that he and his wife desperately needed.
According to the judgment’s sequence of events, Total offered a post-retirement medical aid benefit to its employees, and in terms of the applicable policy, “upon normal ill health or early retirement, employees who joined Total before December 31, 2001, are entitled to increase medical aid subsidy of 75% notwithstanding their specific retirement fund”.
The judgment read that from around 1993, the applicant, Reon Meyer, was seconded to Total Exploration South Africa, which changed its name to Total Coal South Africa (TCSA) in 2003. TCSA was a subsidiary within the Total Group in South Africa.
The policy was applicable to Meyer, but TCSA did not offer the benefit, the court papers read. In 2014, after 28 years, Meyer’s employment was terminated with Total South Africa.
He was able to secure employment at TCSA in 2015 but they did not recognise his previous length of service.
Meyer’s attorney, Tzvi Brivik, said: “At the time of his retrenchment, he and his wife had various medical conditions that required treatment and he absolutely relied on post-retirement medical benefits which Total would not provide to him post the retrenchment.
"It had, however, done so in a previous retrenchment exercise four years previously.”
The value of the medical benefit was calculated at the time of the arbitration in 2014 to be approximately R1 800 000, he said.
Brivik added: “In the arbitration award, which was received from the CCMA Johannesburg, the arbitrator made two critical errors.
"He ruled that as a result of our client having secured a position at another company within the group there was no retrenchment, but he had been suitably placed in the alternative employment and as such the obligation to follow the procedural and substantive requirements set out in the Labour Relations Act on a retrenchment had been waived.
"He then went on to consider whether or not Total should have offered the post-retirement medical benefits to our client and found that it did not, for the reason that the retrenchment which occurred four years earlier involved more than one person.”
On review, the Labour Court found his dismissal was procedurally unfair and that Total committed unfair labour practice by failing or refusing to grant the former employee his post-retirement medical benefit.
Total South Africa was ordered to pay Meyer 12 months remuneration calculated at his rate on the day of dismissal. It was also ordered to provide his post-retirement medical benefits from the date of his dismissal.
“The value of the judgement will exceed R3 million,” Brivik said.
Total South Africa corporate communications and marketing manager Baxolile Msomi said: “As this matter is still before the courts, Total South Africa cannot comment.”