Question: My wife and I employed a Zimbabwe foreign national under the assumption that she had a legal work permit. This as she was referred by a colleague from Zimbabwe who works with me, as she assured us that she was. After the first 4 months of constantly requesting this, at the end of every month, so that we could register her, we were duly informed by her that she did not have her ‘papers’. We were sympathetic to her position at this stage as she informed us that her family in Zimbabwe were virtually starving and she had a son, 3 years old and the same age as mine. We continued to employ her as she advised that she was going to obtain a work permit.

We had an excellent work relationship and my family became very close to our new domestic. Being so close we knew that she had a boyfriend who she saw once a month, as she lived with us throughout the month so that she could save extra to send home to Zimbabwe. Over the last 2 months however she started a relationship with someone who lived close to us as well and started living with him on the weekends. She requested a loan for a family emergency which she duly paid back. Upon returning one Sunday she was highly emotional and requested a substantially larger loan which I could however not assist her with. She did not want to mention the purpose of this loan. Upon me refusing she became agitated and emotional.
She subsequently packed her belongings and left. Throughout the time that she was leaving we constantly asked her what was going on and she refused to advise us what the problem was. When exiting my property she advised us ‘you will see I will take you to the CCMA.

We disregarded this as her being emotional and she would return as she was probably going through a personal crisis. We tried contacting her for the next two weeks with no success. We recently received a notification from the CCMA that she has lodged a claim against us for Unfair Dismissal.
I need to know what my rights are in this issue as we have never ever had any issues with her and this is shocking to us.

Can you please assist.

Answer:
Godfrey, don’t stress yourself too much over this matter. Unfortunately, If you have received a CCMA notification, you will have to attend as per the scheduled date and time. Your domestic’s referral to the CCMA is flawed from the outset as she has not been dismissed and will not have a written dismissal notification. All you would have to do is advise the CCMA Commissioner that your Domestic has, at this stage, NOT been dismissed and that she merely absconded from her work duties and you have not been able to trace her ever since. She cannot claim unfair dismissal if she has not been dismissed. Further, you tell the Commissioner that you would like her to return to your employment so that you can immediately issue her with disciplinary charges for abscontion. Please bear in mind that domestic labour legislation is far more lax and informal in comparison to corporate. Feel free to call on me once the CCMA matter has been withdrawn so as to advise you on how to proceed with your domestic’s procedural termination.

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