IN THE CCMA

HELD AT CCMA Cape Town

CASE NO: WECT14692-24

In the matter between:

Kim Raats                              Applicant
And  
CIPLA (Medpro Pharmaceutica (Pty) Ltd)                         Respondent

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PRE-ARBITRATION MINUTE

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Any means by which the dispute may be settled

Applicant is willing to consider reasonable proposals.

Facts that are agreed or not disputed between the parties

1. The applicant starting work for the respondent, a large international company, more than 18 years ago and progressed to become the Senior Manager: Operations: Events Lead.

2. Apart from one expired written warning the applicant had not been subjected to any other form of disciplinary action during those 18 years.

3. Early in 2024 the applicant was very busy arranging about 15 conferences and was about to take her annual leave and go overseas when she was requested to make certain enquiries regarding a function.

4. The applicant returned from leave and was subjected to a disciplinary process but was not suspended nor asked to take ‘garden leave’ throughout that process.

5. The applicant was presented with a charge sheet accusing her of

    • gross insubordination in that you refused and/or failed to take reasonable instructions given by Schalk van der Merwe to source additional quotations for a conference venue in Johannesburg for the 2025 Cycle Meeting; and
    • insolence in that despite being reprimanded on numerous occasions on your behaviour, you continue to treat your managers and colleagues with disrespect.

6. The applicant was prevented from being represented by anyone other than a fellow employee (as per company policy and procedure), which was not feasible given the circumstances.

7. The respondent engaged the services of its external labour consultancy called LabourNet to conduct the disciplinary process.

8. The applicant was presented with the 2 ‘charges’ (gross insubordination and insolence) and required to plead ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ and duly pleaded ‘not guilty’.

9. The respondent’s representative then outlined the “charges” and evidence was adduced and the applicant did her best in the circumstances to ask questions and put forward her arguments.

10. At the conclusion of that process LabourNet issued a written recommendation that the applicant be given a final written warning.

11. The respondent effectively ignored that recommendation and refused or failed to afford her any further opportunity to respond prior to any other decision being taken by respondent.

12. The applicant was then informed in writing that her services had been summarily terminated due to

    • “negligence in that during period of the 2nd of April 2024 until the 7th of May 2024, you failed without proper cause to perform your duties with the proper care required in that you failed to respond and to give feedback to the directors after you have received an instruction from Schalk van der Merwe to source additional quotations for a conferencing venue in Johannesburg for 2025 Cycle Meeting.
    • conduct unbecoming, and
    • insolence” in that despite being reprimanded on numerous occasions on your behaviour, you continue to treat your managers with disrespect when you sent your manager a disrespectful email on the 27th of May 2024, questioning her authority and decisions.

13. As provided by the respondent’s Code and Procedures the applicant lodged a motivated written appeal and in due course the appeal was conducted by an outside advocate.

14. In her amended notice of appeal the applicant relied on her right in terms of the Constitution to remain silent given the nature of the ‘charges’ and sanction imposed on her.

15. The advocate duly provided written reasons for refusing to uphold the appeal and in effect sanctioned the summary dismissal.

16. Shortly thereafter the applicant referred a dispute to the CCMA and it was set down for conciliation/arbitration given that the reason for termination was simply related to the applicant’s purported conduct.

17. However the respondent objected in writing to any arbitration being conducted if the dispute could not be settled via conciliation.

18. The applicant was present with a legal representative at the CCMA and initially the respondent objected to the legal practitioner being allowed to sit in during the process.

19. However the respondent relented and allowed the attorney to be in the room provided he did not participate or say anything during the process.

20. The respondent indicated without prejudice to its rights that it was willing to settle the matter on payment of a certain amount. The applicant left the room with her attorney to discuss the offer and then made a counteroffer which was rejected by the respondent because they did not have a mandate to go beyond the initial offer.

21. The process terminated with a formal signed notice to the effect that the dispute remained unresolved.

22. It was assumed that the CCMA would allocate a date for arbitration but the applicant was then required to formally apply again which was duly done.

23. Thereafter the matter was eventually set down for arbitration for one day on 9 June 2025.

24. On that date for various reasons the matter could not proceed and eventually 2 days were allocated being 27 and 28 November 2025.

Relevant emails in 2024 in respect of the cycle meeting in Feb 2025

Personal details

AK = Andrew King, VP: Head of Rx Commercial Division

BA = Bernadette Arends, Meetings & Events, Century City

BL = Bernice Leonard, Head of Internal Agency

BW = Barry Wren

GK = Gary Koetser, CEO Century City

GM = Genevieve Mannel,

KR = Kim Raats, Senior Manager: Events Lead

PN = Pumeza Ngxiki, Associate Director, Lead HR Business Partner

RF = Rikus Fourie, Director: Procurement & Shared Service

SvdM = Schalk van der Merwe, VP: Head of OTC: Sales & Marketing

TN: Tabo Nkoana, Procurement Project Manager

TW = Tara White, Travel PA

ZjvV = Zelna Jansen van Vuuren, Deputy manager, Facilities

Emails during 2024

03 28 at 1609 from BA to KR

Dear Kim, thank you for your enquiry and interest in Century City conference centre and hotel. We are very excited to submit our proposal for your event. Kindly click on the below proposal link to view your quotation for the 9 – 14 February 2024 (sic)…

04 02 at 1126 from KR to AK

Dear all I hope this email finds you well stop kindly find the quote attached for cycle meeting one – 2025 discussed in our last meeting.

We had discussed and agreed on the dates being 3rd – 7th February 2 025, however, it is Mining Indaba in Cape Town and no matter where we try, we won’t get any venues available during that time. I then asked to quote me on the next available week possible which is the week of 9th to 14th February 2 025. Please let me know your thoughts.

04 02 at 1235 from AK to KR

Hi all seeing that +60% of staff from counting region let’s consider having the January/February start-up at a place like Birchwood?.

04 02 at 2015 from SVDM to AK

Hi Andrew, I agree regards Schalk

04 03 at 1334 from KR to AK

Hi there, not sure Birchwood is the way to go but I do understand where you are coming from in terms of possibly moving it to a JHB venue. Let me know what the outcome is once we had you had your meeting. Thanks K

04 03 at 1354 from SVDM to KR

Hi Kim, it all boils down to cost. Also number of flights. Regards

04 03 at 1426 from SVDM to KR

Thank you Kim the flights will be cheaper because less people will be flying to JHB but let’s see. Regards

04 25 at 08 58 from KR to AK

Afternoon Andrew and Schalk, I hope you are both doing well. I’ve been chatting to Gary from CCCC and he would really like the opportunity to have a coffee with you both when you are in Cape Town again. Alternatively Gary is also more than happy to meet with you both in JH be as well stop please let us know when you’d be in Cape Town again so that I can make the necessary arrangements, or if you would prefer for Gary to meet with you in JH B. Looking forward to hearing from you. Regards Kim

04 25 at 1951 from AK to KR

Hi guys, Gary tried calling me today and obviously I was in session… I am still advocating for cycle to be in JHB next year… Schalk what is your view?

04 26 at 03 55 from SVDM to AK and KR

Good morning Kim. Have you investigated Birchwood and other venues as was discussed? Regards

04 26 at 08 49 from KR to SVDM and AK

Morning Schalk, no not yet, I will get to you as soon as I can. I’ve had a chat to 1 of my vendors for suggestions as to other options other than Birchwood just so that we have other options as well. But I haven’t actioned anything as yet. Thanks Kim

04 26 at 1041 from SVDM to KR

Hi Kim. That’s disappointing as we asked you to look at alternative options and get pricing, why was this not done stop when will this be done? Regards

05 02 at 1204 from ZjvV to SVDM & AK

Good morning Schalk and Andrew. I hope you are doing well. As per instruction I have attached two quotes for Cycle Meeting 2025 from Birchwood hotel and Emperors Palace. Please find below notes…

05 06 at 2003 from GK to AK & SVDM cc: KR

Evening gents hope you are both doing well and thank you Andrew for your time on the phone last week. We have tried our very best to free up the conference centre for your preferred dates in February and really sad that we are unable to assist with availability as the client currently holding the space has confirmed and paid a deposit.

Whilst I realise your dates are not flexible at all and completely understand your thoughts behind this I have taken the liberty of sending you a quotation anyway for the second week in February 2 025 just in case you are able to reconsider.… Hope to see you both when you are in Cape Town next week, even if for a quick coffee or glass of wine? CEO Century City.

05 27 at 08:53 from BL to KR & others

Subject: Re: Introduction to Duo Designs

Morning ladies.

We have been asked to spread our net wider in terms of the vendors that we utilise in internal agency. We cannot keep only our current vendors on our books. It was agreed in terms of the new vendor and procurement process, that when we meet new vendors to consider that we immediately add them to our system so that it is out of the way and when they submit proposals for us to consider in the future, at least that is complete and ready for engagement.

So please go ahead and set up Judy as the new possible vendor.

And please can we include her to provide a proposal on the next event that we have coming up in our calendar. Thank you Bernice

05 27 at 11:05 from KR to BL

Subject: Re: Introduction to Duo Designs

Dear Bernice,

I really just want to understand… I am extremely confused as to your email below and I would really appreciate open and honesty when it comes to the below statement that you have made.

It feels to me that Cipla is trying to get rid of the Events department, and if this is the case, kindly appreciate the fact that we have all been with Cipla for a very long time and we would like the respect of the company just to be honest with us.

Judy, is a 3rd party vendor and my confusion is as to why we would want to load her as a Vendor if we would need to pay her a Management fee should she do work for Cipla.  Are we not trying to mitigate such instances?  In my many years of Managing events, we’ve only ever gone DIRECTLY to vendors and managed the logistics ourselves.  So hence my confusion.

And if I may be open and honest with you, neither one of us were impressed with Judy’s presentation to us.  Her level of excellent is nowhere near the level of excellence that we as the Events team have been executing for so many years!  She is not an ideal candidate to load as a vendor and there are many other vendors out there that we know of who we could make further contact with DIRECTLY. i.e. Décor, AV, Gifting vendors.

And if I may also just remind you of the other vendor we used (again a referral) at last years’ Leadership forum at The Waterfront, she was about 7 hours late to set up and her décor was old and tacky.  I distinctly remember having a chat with you and informing you of this.

I absolutely understand that we need to add new vendors to our books but surely we should also have a level to which we search and secure these vendors?  We are happy to get 3 quotes for everything we do in terms of vendors, however, as mentioned to you above, we go directly to venues, AV, Gifting, Décor etc. companies, we do not go through other Agencies as that defeats the purpose of the Events team.  The Events team cannot manage and accept responsibility and accountability if we are not in control. And if it was agreed that we need to meet new vendors, then why has this not been communicated to me/us?  You know that if I had received this instruction, I would have started this process already.  But what I was made aware of, is the fact that we need to get 3 quotes for everything.

And if the company wants to bring in the fact that I used, for the 1st time ever, an Agent, TravelPA, to help me with my International Conference, then so be it.  But it was an International Conference with MANY different aspects of the conference and she was managing, along with me, many different aspects of our trip.  This has only ever been the first time I’ve used someone externally to assist me with an Event. And there was NO Management fee owed to her for assisting me with this.

So what I am also then understanding from the below is that for every phone call and email we get from a Vendor, we need to load them on our system and give them a chance to quote because trust me, we get spammed by companies such as Duo designs every single day and we keep telling them that this is our Job here at Cipla, we don’t go through a ‘middleman’, we get paid a salary to arrange events for the company.  And some of them get quite rude with us! LOL!  They don’t like it at all.

So if someone could have a meeting with us, explain to us exactly what is going on so that we are all on the same page, we would really appreciate it.  But at this point in time, we are really feeling as though we are being worked out of the company.

If we aren’t allowed to use Century City, then tell us, if we aren’t allowed to use CORE Productions, then tell us, if we aren’t allowed to use Urbantonic, then tell us.  Because those are the only 3 vendors that we use constantly because of their level of excellence, expertise and service to Cipla.  All other vendors we have a vast number that we use.

This has been on my heart for a while now and it’s demoralising, demotivating and very hurtful.  One would think that for the many year experience, I would have some sort of say as to my Expertise but it feels to me that I am a criminal in my own space.

But, as per your instruction below, we will action this immediately and we will ask Judy to then go ahead and quote on Leadership forum that is coming up. Kind regards, Kim

05 28 at 09:47 from BL to KR

From: Bernice Leonard/Internal Agency/SA <[email protected]>
To: Kim Raats/Operations/SA <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Introduction to Duo Designs

Good morning Kim. It’s taken me this long, to reply to you as this email was sent to me inappropriately and with little care as to how I might receive such a communication. I do not wish this to be a communication held over email. This warrants an in-person discussion. You are making dangerous assumptions, judgements and I take exception to it. Please kindly schedule a discussion, so that we can do this professionally and without emotion. Thank you Bernice

Issues that the Commission is required to decide:

  1. Whether the applicant was dismissed unfairly?
  2. Whether there was valid reason for dismissal?
  3. If so, whether there was fair reason for dismissal?

Precise relief claimed and if compensation is claimed, the amount of the compensation and how it is calculated:

  1. There was no valid nor fair reason for dismissal;
  2. Retrospective ‘reinstatement’ without any loss of salary nor benefits; and
  3. Maximum compensation for alleged unfair procedures.

Sharing and exchange of relevant documents, and the preparation of a bundle of documents in chronological order with each page numbered

Applicant has prepared an index and 2 bundles marked “A” & “B”:

  • A: Relevant documents in chrono sequence: and
  • B: Recording of hearings as follows:
    • 2024 06 07: prelim: pages 8 – 27
    • 2024 06 12: hearing: pages 77–190
    • 2024 06 28: findings: pages 28 – 45
    • 2024 07 ??: outcome: pages 1 – 7
    • 2024 07 25: appeal: pages 46 – 76.

Manner in which documentary evidence is to be dealt with, including any agreement on the status of documents and whether documents, or parts of documents, will serve as evidence of what they appear to be

In the absence of any contrary agreement, the parties agree that the documents are what they purport to be, subject to the right of any party to question the authenticity of any document on valid grounds as soon as such query comes to its attention.

Whether evidence on affidavit will be admitted with or without the right of any party to cross-examine the person who made the affidavit

Neither party anticipates evidence on affidavit at this stage. The parties will in due course consider the use of witness statements.

Which party must begin

Respondent.

Necessity for any on-the-spot inspection

Not applicable.

 Securing the presence at the Commission of any witness

Not applicable.

Resolution of any preliminary points that are intended to be taken

Addressed.

Exchange of witness statements

Not necessary in the circumstances given prior hearing.

Expert evidence

None.

Any other means by which the proceedings may be shortened

Under discussion.

Estimate of the time required for the hearing

More than two days.

Right of representation

Parties agree to be legally represented given complexity of issues.

Whether an interpreter is required and, if so, for how long and for which languages.

No.

Signed by both Parties at Cape Town on 27 November 2025.