Fundraiser fired for inappropriate language during heated argument with CEO

SHOUTING inappropriate language at senior management in the office when taken to task for being late to work could cost you your job, as a fundraiser at the SA Medical and Educational Foundation discovered.

- ZELDA VENTER

Kayla Jenecker, during a heated argument with the CEO of the nonprofit organisation, apparently used the phrase “screw you” repeatedly towards him and in front of other colleagues.

While Jenecker maintained that he uttered these words and not she, she was convicted of gross misconduct during a disciplinary hearing and fired.

She fought this in arbitration but lost her case there when her dismissal was found to be fair. Aggrieved with this finding, she turned to the Cape Town Labour Court in a bid to get her job back.

Jenecker began working for the employer in February 2020 as a fundraiser. On 10 December 2021, she arrived at work 15 minutes late.

The CEO, a Mr Pols, inquired why she was late, and she responded that it was due to traffic. Pols responded that the explanation was strange, as he had heard the other employees talking about how traffic into Cape Town that morning was flowing.