Refilwe Matinketsa started working at DisChem on 1 March 2019 and worked as a picker at the distribution centre until 2024 when she was dismissed by DisChem for medical incapacity. File picture: Karen Sandison/Independent Newspapers
Cape Town - The Casual Workers’ Advice Office (CWAO) has condemned pharmacy giant Dis-Chem for dismissing a female worker after she was fitted with a stoma bag following cancer surgery and could no longer lift heavy items.
The work dispute ended up at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), where commissioner Johan Stapelberg ruled that the dismal was “procedurally and substantively fair”.
The matter was arbitrated on July 4, 2024, at the CCMA’s Tshwane offices.
Refilwe Matinketsa started working at Dis-Chem on March 1, 2019, as a picker at the distribution centre until this year, when she was dismissed by Dis-Chem for medical incapacity.
She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2022, underwent surgery and was fitted with a stoma bag.
Matinketsa returned to work at Dis-Chem in November 2023. When she returned, it was agreed that she would be retrained as a picker, but she was unable to fulfil a full shift as she said that she could not continue lifting boxes and repeatedly bend over and stretch because of the stoma bag.
A medical specialist was called in and advised that she handle light duties, which Dis-Chem stated that they handled by having her work as a checker, a temporary position with only four hours of work in the evening.
By December 2023 she was given the position of picker until March 2024, when Dis-Chem declared the role redundant and terminated Matinketsa on grounds of medical incapacity.
In his ruling, Stapelberg said: “The evidence is clear that both on her own version, and based on the doctor’s prognosis, she could not perform her duties as a picker any longer. She was only supposed to be temporarily accommodated as a packer, with the idea that she would recover enough to return to her picking duties.
“She was not even able to perform the light picking duties and confirmed she was unable to meet the targets.
“In spite of all of this, the respondent did not have its incapacity meeting until many months had passed. The applicant’s suggestion that she should have been further accommodated until August 2024, and that she is now fit to work again, was neither suggested before her dismal, nor corroborated by any medical report and I do not accept it as true.”
On Tuesday, CWAO condemned this and said that Matinketsa’s case was not the only such case in South Africa.
“Any manual worker involved in heavy lifting can expect to be summarily dismissed if they are diagnosed with cancer, or tear their shoulder or hip muscles while lifting at work, even if they have dedicated years of service to the company and still have decades left before retirement.
“These corporate giants must be exposed and made to change their ways. The CWAO demands that these corporate giants, which have the resources to treat gravely ill workers like decent human beings, come up with a policy whereby they will transfer sickly and disabled workers to light duties,” they said. “Simply terminating their injured and disabled workers is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
“We condemn the part-time commissioner (a former HR manager), who mindlessly ruled for Dis-Chem because it had no ‘alternative positions in a shrinking workforce’.
“It is not clear from the award what objective evidence Dis-Chem provided to show that it was losing so much money that it has had to shrink its workforce to the extent that it cannot accommodate one woman worker with a stoma bag,” they said.
“Part-time commissioners have other work outside the CCMA and are often conflicted about ruling in favour of workers. This is why the CWAO has demanded that all commissioners must be full-time and work only at the CCMA.
“The CWAO demands that Dis-Chem reinstate Refilwe Matinketsa in a genuine light-duty job without further delay.”
In response, Dis-Chem said: “Dis-Chem followed all protocols and procedures to accommodate Refilwe Matinketsa. As per the CCMA Arbitration Outcome, her dismissal was procedurally and substantively fair.”
theolin.tembo@inl.co.za
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