Settlement negotiations between a former call centre employee and her company which allegedly banned toilet breaks have failed and the parties are now heading back to the CCMA for arbitration.
Nosisi Mabanya and Alteram Solutions were embroiled in negotiations for a day last week in a bid to reach a settlement.
Mabanya has hauled Alteram before the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration for constructive dismissal after she stained her clothing while menstruating as she waited for permission from the team leader to go to the toilet.
She said the matter would have to be arbitrated by the CCMA as the company insisted on giving her two months’ salary in a settlement while she felt she deserved more.
The matter was before the CCMA last month but could not be completed and the parties are now awaiting a new date next month.
“I felt disrespected about their initial offer as they do not regard what they did as an injustice and inhuman. This led to me and the EFF members to walk out of the meeting and submit a section 205 to them,” Mabanya said.
Alteram Solutions’ commercial officer, Boyce Mkhize, confirmed that they met Mabanya last week but said the parties were far apart and could not reach an agreement.
“Unfortunately, the parties could not agree on a settlement as the parties’ respective positions were quite far apart”, Mkhize said.
Up until September 15 last year, the company allowed staff a “body break” option, whereby they could push a pause button on their system when they needed to go to the bathroom.
An email sent to employees at the time, and seen by the Sunday Times, said: “There will be no bathroom breaks,” and if they needed to go to the toilet, employees were expected “to utilise breaks allocated”, such as lunch breaks.
On October 16, the company sent another email, seemingly backing down and attempting to clarify “concerns”.
“Body Breaks: These remain permitted: however employees are expected to manage them responsibly … to ensure minimal disruption to overall productivity,” read the email sent to agents handling UIF calls.
The parties are expected to return to the CCMA for the continuation of the arbitration hearing, as Mabaya argues that the company created “an intolerable working environment”.
Alteram, which runs call centres for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), Compensation Fund, Road Accident Fund and other funds, is expected to present its case.
Mkhize has previously told the Sunday Times that their call centre agents had abused the “body break” pause button by pretending to be in the bathroom while they sat at their workstations, but not taking calls.
Mkhize insisted there was no bathroom ban but that confusion was caused by internal communication at the time.
He said Mabanya’s demands and the company’s offer “were quite far apart”.
“The matter will now proceed at the CCMA in June, and the company will demonstrate that the case of constructive dismissal is unwarranted,” Mkhize said.
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