WhatsApps cost women their jobs
Women lose jobs over WhatsApp Covid chats
● Discovery Health has been accused of unhealthy labour practices after firing 10 employees for badmouthing the company in a WhatsApp group during the lockdown.
The women’s lawyer, Nkosinathi Malgas, said they contracted Covid-19 at work in April and had started the group to support each other. But when Discovery found out about the group, it charged them with contravening company social media policy and fired them in June after a disciplinary hearing.
The women have complained to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration in Cape Town, claiming they were unfairly dismissed and demanding 12 months’ salary in compensation.
Discovery Health CEO Ryan Noach said a whistleblower who was a member of the WhatsApp group reported the women and made available contents of their discussions, which “revealed clear and explicit details of these employees … initiating, planning and co-ordinating efforts to maliciously shut down ‘Discovery’.”
In a letter the company sent to call cen- tre consultant Chumani Solosi in June, it said she “shared information and messages that were clearly prejudicial to and derogatory of the company”.
It also accused her of inciting colleagues “to communicate with an external party, namely the EFF”, of making “rude and derogatory remarks about your team leader”, of “making a statement to an external party which contained false and damaging statements about the company” and of inciting colleagues to close down Discovery offices in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
Malgas said Discovery had invaded its employees’ privacy by accessing the WhatsApp messages “without their consent or a court order. This was a gross violation to their right to privacy and the Protection of Personal Information Act.”
Solosi told the Sunday Times that her dismissal after more than two years at Discovery had brought her family misery and financial hardship. “It happened unexpectedly during the period of the coronavirus. I have two children, a family of four who were entirely dependent on me.
“I feel the company invaded my privacy. I felt humiliated and undignified when such information was used against me in the disciplinary hearing.”
Her former colleague, Nolitha Luki, said she had served Discovery “diligently without any misdemeanour or misconduct” for almost three years. “I have recovered from the coronavirus but I am still severely suffering from emotional and psychological trauma effects.”
Noach said it was “terribly unfortunate” that the women had tried to take advantage of the pandemic “ultimately for the selfish reason of being able not to come to work”. He said only two of the women had been in isolation.
“Our expectations are that staff raise concerns internally, affording us the opportunity to clarify or resolve any items that may give cause to whatever concerns they may have,” said Noach.
“The evidence that we have in our possession illustrates that this group failed to take up opportunities to raise specific concerns internally and instead chose to act maliciously and unfairly in an attempt to achieve their nefarious end of an office closure by bringing the company into disrepute.”
William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa, warned people not to say anything on social media “you would not want read out or said at your close relative’s wedding”. He added: “Just because social media grants you a level of a seeming anonymity doesn’t mean it is a good idea to trash-talk your company. That said, companies need to be careful that their social media policies do not unreasonably limit freedom of expression. In the current instance it sounds like both may be possible.”
Attorney Diana Schwarz, an expert in social media law, said the dismissals would be unlawful if the WhatsApp group was only used for emotional support. However, “if information or messages divulge personal information of a person, information that brings employers into disrepute or defames another person, this information is being published to a group of people who can easily forward such messages.
“Therefore, WhatsApp is in fact a public social media platform. Further, not only the creator of the group but also the individuals on the group can be held legally liable for unlawful posts or information being shared.”