Shoprite loses labour court fight over contested R10 000 dismissal of long-serving worker

THE Labour Court in Durban has dismissed an application by Shoprite Checkers to overturn the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ruling that found the dismissal of long-serving employee Thandeka Mabel Ngcobo substantively unfair.

- SINENHLANHLA MASILELA

Judge Kelsey Allen-Yaman upheld an earlier arbitration award ordering Thandeka Mabel Ngcobo’s retrospective reinstatement with back pay after she lost her job following the disappearance of R10 000 from a store cash office.

Ngcobo, who had worked for Shoprite since 1988 and served as a cash office clerk for more than a decade, was dismissed in November 2017 after money went missing during her shift.

During her shift, Ngcobo briefly left the cash office to use the restroom, leaving a trainee manager alone in the room with the safe unlocked. The missing funds were discovered the following day during a routine shift handover.

Although an internal investigation and subsequent polygraph tests cleared Ngcobo of directly stealing the money, Shoprite dismissed her on grounds of gross negligence, asserting that she violated company protocol by failing to lock the safe when she stepped away.