Company told to pay up for Sabbath ‘discrimination’

DEIDRE Faris thought she had found a stepping stone to her dream when a leading logistics company employed her as a trainee manager.

But within a year Faris, a Seventh-Day Adventist, was penniless and frustrated after being fired for refusing to break her Sabbath by working on Saturdays.

Almost five years later, Faris won R60 000 compensation from TFD Network Africa for religious discrimination — although the company said this week it would fight for the right to appeal.

Faris is not alone in her battle against religious discrimination. The leader of Seventh-Day Adventists in the Cape said the church was “inundated” by requests from congregants for intervention on their behalf at workplaces and universities.

The church is also preparing for a possible legal battle with the Department of Home Affairs over its weekend working hours.

The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities said it, too, had its hands full with complaints.

Commission CEO Edward Mafadza said the organisation had intervened to assist Unisa students who were unable to write exams on Saturdays.

Faris, who worked at TFD’s distribution centre in Montague Gardens, Cape Town, won 12 months’ salary for unfair dismissal, plus the discrimination payout, in the Labour Court.

She told the court she had “made it known during her first day at work and before she signed her contract” that she could not work on Saturdays, but the company started objecting. She recalled a meeting during which senior manager Jurie Smith told her he “does not give a f**k about her religion”.

In his ruling, Acting Judge Omphemetse Mooki said: “It is an affront to society . . . when another person is humiliated on account of such a person’s faith or religious belief . . . [Faris] was deeply hurt when Mr Smith belittled her faith, more so because this occurred in public.”

TFD’s application for leave to appeal was dismissed, but company lawyer Sean Snyman told the Sunday Times this week he intended pursuing the matter.

This stressed Faris even further. “I have borne the brunt for defending my faith,” she said.

The church’s lawyer, Andrew du Preez, said he was collecting information from a “huge number” of congregants working at home affairs, and the matter may end up in court.

Home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said the department had a 40-hour working week in line with labour laws. “If you can’t work on a Saturday, the hours are made up elsewhere,” he said.