This iron lady won’t take abuse lying down

Domestic worker goes to Equality Court after altercation over TV set in laundry room

A R4 000-a-month domestic worker is taking her multimillionaire former boss to court for gender discrimination.

Nathan Lazarus, the founder and chairman of Ram courier company, has already paid Nellie van Zyl R12 000 for unfair dismissal.

But now the 56-year-old mother of six is taking him to the Equality Court, saying she suffered post-traumatic stress and depression after a confrontation with Lazarus’s son Michael.

Van Zyl laid criminal charges against the 82-year-old mogul’s son about a week before she lost her job in 2014, saying he had verbally abused and intimidated her at Nathan’s Bantry Bay home in Cape Town.

Nathan started Ram after spotting a gap in the market for the delivery of high-value diamonds and jewellery. He also founded the Nathan Lazarus Insurance Group, which became Alexander Forbes.

Van Zyl, from Eerste River, said she was confronted by Michael, who lives in Australia, while she was ironing in the laundry room and watching the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on a small TV.

Michael asked her what she was doing a number of times and she explained she was ironing, she said. He then removed the TV from the room.

Two hours later Michael again confronted Van Zyl while she was loading the dishwasher. “He came right up against me and said, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing, Nellie?’ ” Van Zyl told the Sunday Times.

“He began to scream over my head and I told him to back off. He said, ‘What are you going to do?’ and then told me to get out of his father’s house.”

A shaken Van Zyl left and went to Sea Point police station, FIGHTBACK: Nellie van Zyl says she suffered stress where she laid a charge of crimen injuria against Michael. She stayed in her room that night but left the following morning to go home for the weekend. She sent Nathan a text telling him she felt unsafe because of Michael.

Van Zyl said: “When I was at home I got an SMS from Nathan saying I shouldn’t come back and would not be allowed on the premises. I was shocked and confused because there was no problem between me and Nathan.”

Van Zyl went to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration seeking reinstatement to the live-in job she had held for five years, but instead the CCMA ordered Nathan to pay months’ salary.

The domestic worker, who now works as a daily cleaner at several homes around Cape Town, said she needed counselling and medication, and the loss of income had left her close to losing her home. She is seeking damages for discrimination on the basis of gender.

In his responding affidavit, Nathan said the alleged verbal abuse by Michael had never happened, claiming Van Zyl had laid the charge because she was upset the TV had been removed from the laundry room.

Nathan admitted accusing Van Zyl of stealing alcohol even though he had no proof, and said he instructed his company’s human resources department to investigate her workload after she asked for help.

“I considered the HR department to be the most competent people to ask the relevant questions in light of [Van Zyl’s] workload and accordingly requested them to assist me in establishing whether another domestic was required,” said Nathan.

Attorney Louis Herbert, who is representing Van Zyl, said he was in contact with Nathan’s lawyers over a possible settlement.

Gloria Kempe from the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union said complaints of assault and intimidation were common among domestic workers, and Van Zyl had a strong case.

“As soon as domestic workers speak up for being mistreated they are silenced, abused or lose their jobs,” Kempe said. “Police and the courts don’t do enough to assist domestic workers and their cases are often ignored.”

Van Zyl’s case is due to be heard in the Equality Court in Cape Town on October 20. her three

He began to scream over my head and I told him to back off. He said, ‘What are you going to do?