BusinessLive reports that Imperial Holdings CEO Mark Lamberti, who stepped down on Wednesday after being embroiled in a race and gender controversy with a female staff member, has urged business leaders to redress the past "with sensitivity and humility".  

In a letter that went out on the same day, Lamberti also apologised to staff for the difficulties they had endured over the past few weeks.  He apologised separately to the former employee, Adila Chowan, who won a civil case of discrimination against him, when the High Court in Johannesburg found that he had "impaired her dignity".  Lamberti will step down on 30 April.  Chowan was fired in September 2015 after she laid a grievance against Lamberti, whom she said had referred to her as "an employment equity candidate" and had denied her the promotion opportunities that she had expected.  An internal inquiry dismissed her complaint.  She then sued Lamberti in a discrimination suit and won.  Lamberti earlier resigned from the board of Business Leadership SA (BLSA), following his resignation from the board of Eskom.

• Read this report by Mark Allix in full at BusinessLive
• Read Lamberti’s letter to the staff of Imperial at BusinessLive
• See too, How race, gender blunder cut short Lamberti's 40-year corporate career, at Fin24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page