Shouting inappropriate language at senior management in the office when taken to task for being late at work could cost you your job, as a fundraiser at the SA Medical and Educational Foundation discovered.
Kayla Jenecker, during a heated argument with the CEO of the non-profit organisation, apparently used the phrase “screw you” repeatedly towards him and in front of other colleagues. While Jenecker maintained that he uttered these words and not she, she was convicted of gross misconduct during a disciplinary hearing and fired.
She fought this in arbitration but lost her case there when her dismissal was found to be fair. Aggrieved with this finding, she turned to the Cape Town Labour Court in a bid to get her job back.
Jenecker began working for the employer in February 2020 as a fundraiser. On December 10, 2021, she arrived at work 15 minutes late. The CEO, a Mr Pols, inquired why she was late, and she responded that it was due to traffic. Pols responded that the explanation was strange, as he had heard the other employees talking about how traffic into Cape Town that morning was flowing.
The exchange happened in the presence of other employees at a meeting. After the meeting, Jenecker asked to speak privately with Pols in his office. She wanted to raise her concern with him about his accusation that she had lied in front of other employees.
During that encounter, she also explained that the real reason she was late was that the driver of the vehicle she was travelling in had to divert to take a sick child to the Red Cross Hospital. The situation became heated, and Pols instructed Jenecker, who was standing at that point, to sit down. She refused, and Pols then told her to leave his office.
It is said that she stormed out into the open area where the other staff were seated. As she entered this area, she continued to address Pols regarding his accusation that she had lied. Pols instructed the other staff to hang up their calls so that donors and clients would not hear the commotion.
He told Jenecker that she was suspended for the day, that she was being given a written notice which she needed to sign, and that she could return to work on Monday. Jenecker refused to sign the written warning. Before she left the office, she at some point told Pols, “screw you”. Pols asked her what she had said, and she repeated the words.
She received a notice to attend a disciplinary hearing, in which it was said that her outburst showed clear disrespect towards senior management. She was accused of creating a hostile working environment and using inappropriate language.
Jenecker testified that she had apologised to Pols in the earlier meeting for being late at work. She said she later explained to him in his office as to why she was late after he called her a liar. She took the accusation of lying seriously because she is a Christian and felt accused of breaking a commandment.
Jenecker denied telling Pols to “screw you” and called her mother as a witness, who confirmed her daughter would never use those words because of her Christian beliefs.
The labour court, however, ruled against Jenecker. It remarked that telling a CEO, the most senior person in an organisation, “screw you,” in front of other employees, and repeating the words, constitutes a serious challenge to authority.
