A Cape Town sushi waiter thought he was the flavour of the month until his Japanese boss dumped him like a suspect piece of fugu.
Desmond Loots tried to fight back but he was sliced and diced in the labour court this month by his former employer, Arata Koga, the former owner of Izakaya Masturi & Japanese Tapas Bar in Green Point.
Loots sued for remuneration for marketing work he claimed to have performed when he was employed as a waiter between July 2014 and December 2015.
The lawsuit had been dragging on since 2016. At first Loots also sued for pain and suffering but abandoned that claim in 2017. He also took Koga to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for unfair dismissal.
He asked the court to compel Koga to pay him R600,000 for the marketing work - calculated at 3% of R20m turnover over a five-year period. He also demanded R84,000 for management duties and R16,800 in staff meals. Loots said he had an oral agreement with Koga to perform the extra duties.
In a 2015 letter to Koga, Loots said he was unhappy with his salary and wanted shares in the restaurant. "My earnings are too low for my experience and duties," he wrote.
"When the shop was quiet I helped with all the marketing and flyers and also today still help for free. I am always willing to help but now it is just a joke. No more. I work for money, not a favour."
The CCMA found Loots's dismissal was "substantively and procedurally unfair" and awarded him four months' salary as compensation.
He then took the fight to the labour court but Koga denied that there was a verbal or written agreement between him and Loots.
"In fact, [Loots] saw an opportunity to manipulate and exploit the kind and caring nature of a soft-hearted business owner in the person of Mr Arata Koga, wrongly assuming Mr Koga is a rich man," Barry Varkel, Koga's lawyer, said in court papers.
"Mr Koga never asked [him] to do extra work but asked him to act as interpreter as Mr Koga's English was not very good."
Varkel said Loots came to work with a hangover and missed shifts, and Koga had to reduce his shifts because he was unreliable.
Judge Robert Lagrange dismissed Loots's application and the former waiter said this week he was considering an appeal
Judge Robert Lagrange dismissed Loots's application and the former waiter said this week he was considering an appeal.
"I did the work, now they are telling me I am not getting paid," he said. "I think the best way for me to tackle this is to ask [my lawyer] to file an appeal in the Constitutional Court."
Speaking through Varkel, Koga expressed relief. "It was like a samurai sword perpetually hanging over his head and he could not make it go away until he had his day in court," said Varkel.
"Desmond was relentless in his pursuit of Arata. Arata is very much a man who likes to work very hard, with precise attention to detail, and go on to achieve solid results in a very short space of time.
"The court case took such a long time to get to trial and the build-up was very draining for Arata, and it put a lot of pressure on his physical and mental health, being a man in his senior years. A lot of money was also spent on legal fees, which he will never be able to recoup."
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