Pay me same as white colleague, man demands
Company refuses, citing her experience, degrees
PHATHUXOLO Maqavana was the first person in his family to get a degree. The future looked bright when he began working in the merchandising department at Massmart, and he was eager to move up the corporate ladder.
But his climb came to a halt when he discovered that a white colleague — who he considered to be on the same level — was earning R4000 a month more than he was.
Now the case has gone to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration workplace arbitrator in a battle that highlights the pay disparities that still plague South Africa.
Massmart, the second-largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa, includes among its trading brands Game, Makro and Builders Warehouse.
The group claims that Maqavana’s colleague had better qualifications and more experience, but Maqavana, 30, argues that his job came with more responsibility.
He told the Sunday Times this week that he was at a staff party last year when a co-worker mentioned what their colleague was earning.
Later, her payslip was emailed to him in error, confirming this.
“All these years, I was under the impression that our salaries were the same or maybe mine was slightly more since I had more responsibility than her,” said Maqavana.
He approached the human resources manager and the CEO to solve the matter internally, but his efforts failed.
In his statement to the CCMA, Maqavana, who has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a postgraduate diploma in management, said he had worked in the company’s biggest and second-most profitable department, DIY & shelving.
He said his colleague worked in a smaller department, yet had been allocated additional staff to assist her.
“When I started in the company, I saw myself growing in my career and I was expecting my salary to also expand according to the work I was doing,” he says.
“I was astounded as to why my colleague with the same job title, terms of employment and tenure would earn R16 500 and myself R12 500 despite my working in a department three times larger than hers and on productivity performing everything alone with a higher performance of my department.
“I have been significantly disadvantaged and have experienced great distress due to not only being unfairly discriminated against but what I could have done for myself and family with an additional income of R4 000. I have struggled with credit card debt, payment of [a student loan] and have lived on bread and eggs for two years as I could not afford to buy any other food.
“On many occasions I could not sleep due to the stress I was experiencing, fearing for my livelihood and the consequences of speaking up against a big company.”
Maqavana wants the company to back-pay him R4 000 for each month he has worked there since 2015.
Massmart corporate affairs executive Brian Leroni said an internal investigation had determined that Maqavana’s rate of pay was legally justifiable, equitable, and aligned with external and internal salary scales.
“Maqavana’s salary fell within the salary range for the job. He had four years and two months’ experience and a postgraduate diploma. By contrast the person to whom he compared his salary has eight years and eight months’ experience with a BCom honours degree. This significant difference in experience and qualification accounts for the difference in rates of pay between the two individuals.
“The practice of differentiation is perfectly acceptable and has been endorsed by the Labour Court in the interpretation and application of the Employment Equity Act.
“Equally there are peers to Maqavana in the same position that have similar levels of experience and qualifications who are at a comparable rate of pay to him,” said Leroni.
CCMA spokeswoman Lusanda Myoli said pay parity fell under the Department of Labour.
The department did not respond to questions about pay parity in South Africa.
Labour law expert Andrew Levy said gender and race discrimination still existed but were difficult to prove and could not be understood in a vacuum.
“A mere allegation in a court is not enough to prove that [pay disparity] exists based on race or gender.
“The applicant has to prove that there is no other reason that they are being paid less than their counterpart.”