Labour Court Upholds Dismissal Over ‘Screw You’ Outburst
In JENECKER V SA MEDICAL AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION NPC [2025] ZALCCT, the Labour Court upheld the dismissal of a former fundraiser who repeatedly told her chief executive officer "screw you" during a workplace confrontation, finding that her conduct amounted to gross insubordination that justified dismissal.
The employee was employed by the SA Medical and Education Foundation NPC as a fundraiser from February 2020. The dispute arose on 10 December 2021 when she arrived at work 15 minutes late. During a staff meeting, the CEO questioned her explanation that traffic had caused the delay after hearing other employees say traffic had been flowing normally.
Following the meeting, the employee asked to speak to the CEO privately, explaining that the actual reason for her lateness was that the driver of the vehicle she was travelling in had diverted to take a sick child to the Red Cross Hospital. She also confronted the CEO for allegedly calling her a liar in front of colleagues. The discussion became heated when she refused his instruction to sit down and left his office. The confrontation continued in the open-plan office, where, after being informed that she was suspended for the day and would face disciplinary action, she told the CEO "screw you". When he asked her to repeat what she had said, she did so.
Following a disciplinary hearing, the employee was dismissed for gross misconduct involving insolence and insubordination. She referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA, where the Commissioner accepted the employer's version that she had uttered the offensive words and concluded that her dismissal was substantively fair.
The employee then approached the Labour Court in terms of section 145 of the Labour Relations Act to review and set aside the arbitration award. Before considering the merits, the Court dismissed preliminary objections relating to the timing of the review application and procedural compliance.
On review, the employee argued that her conduct amounted only to insolence, not insubordination, that dismissal was too harsh a sanction, and that the Commissioner had failed to adequately assist her after refusing her legal representation at arbitration.
The Court rejected each of these grounds. It held that publicly telling the organisation's CEO "screw you" and deliberately repeating the phrase after being challenged constituted a serious and wilful challenge to authority. The Court found that the Commissioner had correctly distinguished between insolence and insubordination and that the arbitration award fell well within the bounds of what a reasonable decision-maker could reach.
The Labour Court therefore dismissed the review application, confirmed the fairness of the dismissal, and ordered that each party should pay its own legal costs.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific legal guidance on protected disclosures, employment practices, or compliance obligations, consult a qualified labour law practitioner.
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