An oil refinery employee who was fired for sexually harassing and stalking two colleagues has failed in a court bid to get his job back.
Raymond Sauls, who was a control system operator at the Chevron refinery in Cape Town for 19 years before he was fired in 2016, asked the Cape Town labour court to overrule an arbitrator who found his dismissal was fair.
But acting judge Bradley Conradie struck his application off the court roll this week, saying Sauls — who represented himself — had filed his court papers so late he could not consider the matter.
The judgment revealed that Sauls was found guilty of being a sex pest after Chevron received an anonymous complaint from a 21-year-old firefighter at the refinery.
It launched an investigation which uncovered WhatsApp messages in which one of his targets repeatedly asked Sauls to leave her alone and said she was not interested in a romantic relationship with him.
“Mr Sauls ignored her pleas and persisted with his harassment. [The woman] even blocked his mobile number, but this did not deter him as he obtained a new cellphone number and continued harassing her,” said Conradie.
“The harassment included Mr Sauls bombarding [the woman] with messages about her appearance and taking a picture of her without her knowledge.”
The anonymous complaint mentioned “sexual advances [and] inappropriate and unwelcome sexual comments” involving several women in the refinery operations department.
“Even after boundaries have been made very clear the harassment has continued,” said the writer. By attempting to impose boundaries “it may have just highlighted me as an easier target”.
She added: “Physical contact has also gone beyond the appropriate level allowed in the workplace.
“I personally feel uncomfortable and intimidated to talk to any of the supervisors as it has become a norm in the workplace. I also do not feel very comfortable talking about the issue and it has led to a lot of discomfort at work.
“I would not like to report anyone directly or give names of people involved directly or indirectly with the issue but would like to know if some sort of training is in place for everyone to go on before this matter gets out of hand any further.”
Chevron’s investigation led to interviews with two staff members who supplied evidence against Sauls, and he was charged with “persistent offensive and unwelcome sexual advances” over 11 months, as well as stalking.
After being found guilty and fired, Sauls made an unsuccessful appeal, then referred a dismissal dispute to the National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry, said Conradie. The arbitrator dismissed it.
Sauls’s LinkedIn profile says he has been working towards a diploma in chemical engineering from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology since being fired.
In June he completed an 18-month contract working for the Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company.
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