BL Premium reports that a former accountant at the Jewellery Council of SA has been awarded R190,000 by the Labour Court.(LC) in a dispute with the council’s CEO over a R2.5m marketing campaign.
Andira Maharaj, who had worked for the council for 13 years, was dismissed in 2021 after being found guilty in a disciplinary hearing of gross disrespect towards the council’s CEO, Lorna Lloyd. The relationship between the Maharaj and Lloyd broke down after Maharaj’s working hours were cut to three days a week and her salary by 40%. Maharaj took umbrage at Lloyd sending her work-related emails on days she wasn’t at work. An altercation ensued, leading to Maharaj’s dismissal. One of the matters Maharaj was found guilty of included her assertion that the company lost money on marketing campaigns and that staff were suffering as a result. The LC found that Maharaj had been purposely frustrated out of her job and ordered the council to pay her R190,000, namely the amount that was cut from her salary. “What came out clearly during the cross-examination of Lloyd was that it was not contested that the company spent over R2.5m on marketing campaigns without any return. The employee called this campaign irresponsible because the company was on a drive to save money, however, money was wasted on this marketing campaign and she had to bear the brunt of that decision,” the judgment reads. It goes on to indicate: “According to Lloyd, the employee accused her of being weak because she blamed her for using the money for marketing purposes. Even if this is true, this is not disrespect but simply a true status of what happened.” The council represents the interests of mining houses such as De Beers, Anglo American Platinum and Mintek, along with jewellers including American Swiss, Sterns, Arthur Kaplan and Foschini.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kabelo Khumalo at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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