Pretoria - The Labour Court found itself having to deal with the issue of an employee who resigned in the middle of the 2020 lockdown following a salary cut.
At the centre of the storm was whether she was constructively dismissed and, if so, whether this was fair given the pandemic conditions.
A Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) commissioner earlier held that the employer, Westcor SA, had made continued employment intolerable for the employee, Tanya Mey. The commissioner ordered Westcor to compensate Mey by paying her six months’ salary.
Westcor, however, turned to the Labour Court to review the CCMA’s decision as it was unhappy with this.
Westcor is a merchandiser of fashion accessories.
Mey began employment in 2018 as a jewellery product specialist.
When South Africa went into lockdown at the end of March 2020, Westcor employees worked reduced hours and earned reduced wages, supplemented by payments claimed from government.
All employees, including Mey, consented to these arrangements.
In June Westcor announced that, as from July 1, staff were required to return to full working hours, but would be paid only 75% of their salaries.
Mey immediately emailed the managing director, saying she was unable to accept the salary cut.
Westcor’s stance was it could not make an exception for Mey, the only employee resisting the arrangement. Westcor expected employees to stand together as a team to support the business and “save jobs”.
Mey offered to work 75% of her hours in return for 75% of her salary (so she could spend the remaining time on a side-business, of which her employer was aware), but Westcor said it would in that case only pay her 75% of her reduced salary (75% of 75%, being 56% of her contractual salary).
Mey said as much as she wished to support the company, she was unable to accept the 25% cut in her salary.
She detailed her financial difficulties; her husband had lost his income and the family were struggling to cover expenses and falling deeper and deeper into debt.
She said she understood the company wanted to avoid retrenchments, but for her a salary reduction would be worse.
Her company responded that they were not retrenching her, but confirmed they were operating on 75% of salary and had suspended provident fund deductions to help.
They also confirmed returning to a five-day week for all.
Mey responded that it was impossible for her to agree to this, and maintained that the employer could not lawfully reduce her salary unilaterally.
She said it was unfair and unreasonable to put the burden of the pandemic on staff, whereas the company had performed well in the previous year, and had passed on very little of this benefit to employees.
She recorded that Westcor had made it clear it could not commit to a time line, and the reduction could go on for months.
Mey submitted her letter of resignation and advised she would refer a constructive dismissal dispute to the CCMA.
Westcor maintained Mey had options other than resignation and could have waited to see whether things would improve. The court, however, concluded that the CCMA arbitrator was correct in concluding that Mey was constructively dismissed.
Pretoria News