Employed after retirement age: dismissal rejected

In Seokwane v Bidvest Prestige Cleaning Services the applicant was employed after she had passed the retirement age of 60. The employer’s attempts to rely on its retirement policy to terminate the contract, was rejected by the Labour Court.

The facts showed that she was dismissed under the guise that she had reached retirement age when the client had decided to “reduce the respondent’s staff at its premises”.

The court said that it “must be established whether the employer is not using retirement as a means of dismissing an employee for other reasons”.

The court held that her dismissal was automatically unfair and directed the respondent to pay her 12 months’ compensation as well as her costs.