China Town shop owner fined N$230 000 for humiliating employee over work uniform – News

The owner of a shop at the China Town shopping centre in Windhoek must pay N$230 000 to a former employee of his store after he violated her dignity by ordering her to take off her work uniform in his shop, a High Court judge has ruled.

Shop owner Li Bailong treated a former employee of his textile shop, Itakeya George, inhumanely “and committed a serious assault that violated her dignity and self-worth”, judge Thomas Masuku said in a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Masuku said this in connection with an incident that took place at Li’s shop at China Town on 6 November 2021.

The incident resulted in George suing Li for N$500 000 because of an alleged violation of her constitutional rights, while Li in turn sued George for N$500 000, alleging that she defamed him by recounting the incident in his shop in an interview with a television journalist.

In his judgement, Masuku found that George’s rights were violated as alleged by her, and dismissed Li’s defamation claim.

The court clash between George and Li stemmed from a confrontation between them at Li’s shop, during which Li accused George, who was employed as a shop assistant, of cutting a bigger piece of textile for a customer than the customer was charged for.

The court heard that Li dismissed George on the spot and instructed her to take off the work uniform he had provided her with.

He also suggested to her that, since she did not have alternative clothing available to wear, she could cover herself with a cardboard box instead.

George told the court that after a security guard intervened, Li gave her a piece of fabric to cover herself with before she left the shop.

She also said Li instructed her to take off the work uniform in full view of himself, other employees and customers.

Her dignity was violated and she was treated in a degrading and humiliating manner, George claimed.

In his counterclaim against George, Li alleged that she related falsehoods and made defamatory remarks about him when she recounted her experience in his shop to a television reporter.

Li told the court that when George said she had nothing else to wear if she had to take off her work uniform, he told her out of anger and frustration that she should wear a cardboard box, without intending that to be a serious suggestion.

Masuku said in his judgement there was no dispute that Li dismissed George on a whim and told her to leave her uniform at the shop and wear a cardboard box, before providing her with some material to drape over herself.

“In my view, the fact that the defendant [Li] dismissed the plaintiff [George] on the spot and further told her to wear cardboard boxes was demeaning in the extreme,” Masuku said.

“The sting of the defendant’s action was not primarily because of the presence of other employees or customers, in my considered opinion. It was his debased attitude towards the plaintiff.”

Masuku also remarked: “This is not what the founding mothers and fathers of this republic envisaged Namibian people, especially women, who are in most cases vulnerable, would be exposed to in this day and age. Whatever [George] may have done and even if it was an offence, that does not grant the defendant the licence to deal with the plaintiff in any manner he pleases.”

Li “appears to have regarded her as a chattel to be treated with impunity”, Masuku also commented.

“In his eyes, she was not a human being like him, worthy of respect,” he added.

Masuku ordered Li to pay George N$230 000 “for the violation of the plaintiff’s dignity and for subjecting her to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.

Li should also pay George’s legal costs, Masuku ordered.

George was represented by Wilbard Kagola, of the law firm Henry Shimutwikeni and Company.

Li was represented by Ray Silungwe.