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IOL reports that the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) has ruled that a Standard Bank branch manager who was accused of shouting at staff should be reinstated, five years after she was fired.
Zimbini Makuleni was fired in January 2018 as manager of the Centurion branch following a suspension in 2017. She was accused of creating a hostile environment at the branch by communicating with subordinates in a manner that was disrespectful, offensive and childish. The bank also claimed she shouted at her subordinates and used vulgar language in front of other colleagues and customers. Makuleni approached the CCMA and in October 2018 it was ruled that her dismissal had been unfair and that she should be reinstated. Standard Bank took that ruling on review in the Labour Court and in September 2021 the court ruled in its favour. Makuleni then approached the LAC where her matter was heard five years after her dismissal. During the appeal, Judge Roland Sutherland noted there were no specific allegations in the charges and the incidents mentioned by nine complainants were only vaguely located in time. In his findings, Sutherland said the Labour Court misdirected itself when it accepted Makuleni’s subordinates as witnesses against her and thinking they had no motive to lie. He pointed out that Makuleni had worked for the bank for 23 years and yet, in the Labour Court, no serious weight had been given to that. Sutherland noted that Makuleni had been given the position because the branch needed to be fixed. “Under her leadership, the branch was recognised as the third best-performing branch in the business... If her style of management was inconsistent with what the respondent wanted, the results certainly were what they wanted,” Sutherland observed.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Brenda Masilela at IOL
- Read too, You can’t be fired just because you’re unpopular, Labour Appeal Court rules in bank manager case, at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page