Dear Tekkie Town. I will not be returning to work and I will proceed civilly against you due to the humiliation I suffered in your store,” a young saleswoman has told her ex-employer.
The Port Elizabeth woman, humiliated by her supervisor when she was made to stand in the Baywest shop window with her hands tied behind her back, has finally hit back with a letter of demand due to what lawyers have described as the “serious infringement of her constitutional rights”.
Maxime Lee, 18, said under no circumstance would she be returning to work and requested a repudiation of her employment contract.
“Our client is entitled to a constitutional damages claim,” lawyer Dean Murray wrote.
In October, Lee stood in the popular shoe shop’s window with her mouth taped shut and a sign around her neck which read: “I don’t listen to my supervisor now I’m in the naughty corner”.
Shoppers laughed and snapped pictures of her.
She said at the time that at first she had seen it as a joke but later became self-conscious and asked to return to work.
Her supervisor, Thozama Spielman, refused.
The “punishment” was due to her talking and laughing loudly with a colleague.
Spielman was fired after an internal disciplinary hearing.
While Lee’s legal representatives – Murray and advocate Albert Beyleveld SC – have not put an amount to their claim against Tekkie Town, the letter sent out earlier this week makes it clear that they are willing to proceed to court should some kind of an agreement not be reached.
Numerous attempts to obtain comment from Tekkie Town failed.
Lee said on Thursday that Tekkie Town had encouraged her to return to work, even offering that she take up her former position in another store.
“I just can’t go back there. I am so humiliated and the problem is that while I am wanting to work, I am scared to apply elsewhere because my face was out there.
“It was so humiliating,” the quietly spoken Lee said.
She said Spielman had never apologised to her.
Lee continues to see a psychologist, paid for by Tekkie Town. The legal letter further stated: “The outrageous, unreasonable and unlawful purported disciplinary action against our client by your supervisor
. . . is a serious infringement of our client’s right to dignity, physical liberty, feelings, privacy and reputation, [and] of her right to freedom of movement and privacy.
“The conduct in law constitutes not only a delict but [also] a serious infringement of various constitutional rights of our client in respect of which our client is entitled to constitutional damages.
“All our client’s rights to institute action and claim damages from you are strictly reserved.”
Murray said the event had made it impossible for Lee to return to work and that it would indeed be detrimental to her health...