Labour Appeal Court reinstates Woolworths supervisor over dismissal for 'dumb' remark.
A long-serving Woolworths supervisor who was dismissed for referring to cashiers as "dumb" has won her job back after the Labour Appeal Court in Durban ruled that the dismissal was excessively harsh for a single workplace remark.
The Labour Appeal Court ordered Woolworths to reinstate Gladys Arunachellam with retrospective effect to her dismissal date in May 2019, replacing her dismissal with a final written warning valid for 12 months.
Arunachellam, who had worked for the retailer for 28 years and held a supervisory position at the La Lucia Mall branch in Durban, was fired after allegedly describing till operators as "dumb" during a conversation with trainees and another employee in March 2019.
Although Arunachellam denied using the word and maintained that she had referred to staff as "confused" rather than "dumb", the court upheld earlier findings that she had in fact used the offending term.
