CCMA finds company decision to sack unvaccinated worker 'substantively fair'
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has ruled in favour of a company which sacked an employee for refusing to get vaccinated.
Theresa Mulderiji took the Goldrush Group to the CCMA after she was fired for refusing to get the Covid-19 jab.
CCMA commissioner Lungile Matshaka awarded the arbitration earlier this week.
She was employed in the company as a business-related and training officer since 2018.
The company’s representative argued that the workers were notified of the mandatory vaccination policy three months before it was implemented, adding that it was meant to protect workers.
In her argument, Mulderiji said she was uncomfortable with taking the vaccine.
"She felt extreme pressure and emotional discomfort being subjected into deciding between her livelihood and accepting the vaccine under the current conditions and specifically having a waive all avenues of recourse against pharmaceutical companies who manufacture and supply the vaccine and Goldrush in the case of temporary and or permanent I'll side effects. She had also a great personal fear as to what the vaccine might do to her.”
Matshaka ruled that the company’s decision was “substantively fair”.
"At the hearing, the presiding officer concluded that the applicant is permanently incapacitated based on her decision to not get vaccinated and by implication her refusal to participate in the creation of a safe working environment. It was the presiding officer's view that the applicant is permanent and she has indicated that she had no intention of being vaccinated,” the judgment said.
ALSO READ
