Ill-treated female worker to get R60k

THE OWNER of a company, who had allegedly ill-treated a female worker and assaulted her, has been given until the end of this week to pay her R60 000 in compensation.

The commissioner who made the award said “this compensation should send a message to other employers not to degrade, dehumanise and abuse their employees”.

The employee, Angelina Horswill, turned to the CCMA on the grounds of constructive dismissal. She claimed her boss and owner of the company had made her life such a nightmare that she had no choice but to leave.

The owner is not identified as he is still facing criminal charges relating to the alleged assault.

Horswill last year resigned from the company, and listed her reasons as including numerous threats to her by the owner. She claimed he ill-treated her and often swore at her, so she simply felt unsafe in his presence.

She testified that in November last year, the owner shouted at her to come to his office. This disrespect was a daily occurrence, she said.

She went to the office and he asked about invoices that were incorrectly done. She asked how the invoices should be split. At the time, she was employed as a receptionist, but was assisting with invoices in the accounts department. She did not have costing or accounting qualifications.

While talking about these invoices, the owner was seated and she was standing next to his chair. He was very upset, she said, and he lifted the file, threw it on the table and swung out from his chair.

When he turned, he hit her on the left arm with the back of his right hand.

Horswill claimed that this was intentional and that the owner never apologised for slapping her.

She said she felt pain and a burning sensation where she was hit.

Pictures of the bruised, red mark were submitted as evidence to the CCMA of the alleged assault.

Horswill reported the matter to the police before she went to hospital for treatment.

She testified that on a prior occasion he swore at her, saying: “You are f ****** useless”, “you don’t belong here” and “can you give me a rope, I just wanna hang this lady”.

She complained that as a woman, she did not feel safe working with him as he had no respect for her and he was never calm nor respectful towards her.

Horswill said following the assault, which led to her arm being placed in a sling, she had attended trauma counselling.

She said throughout her struggles, no one at the company called to check up on her well-being. She said she was too afraid to go back to work as the abuse was likely to continue. This led to her resignation at the end of January.

The owner of the company simply gave a blank denial to Horswill’s allegations and chose not to testify. He, however, called another worker to testify on his behalf.

She said he was strict and reprimanded any employee if something is wrong. She also admitted that he was harsher with Horswill and that he often shouted at her.

She confirmed the commotion in his office at the time Horswill said she was assaulted by her boss. The witness said, “It was very loud”. The witness said her boss was a loud man, but she has her own way of dealing with it and the other employees were also used to it. She said Horswill was a soft spoken and humble person.

The CCMA commissioner said no employee should ever have to endure such dehumanising treatment.

In the absence of an opposing version from the owner and on a balance of probabilities, it was found on arbitration that the owner of this company abused Horswill and inflicted gender-based violence on her.

After allegedly causing her physical injury, the owner continued the abuse by rejecting the medical certificates signed by a doctor, who had booked her off sick. “This is utterly abhorrent and callous. Ms Horswill’s employment was undoubtedly made intolerable by a tyrant,” the commissioner said.