A senior human resources executive who has spent years in the courts waging a legal challenge to a separation agreement he signed with his employer‚ has now lost in the Constitutional Court, says a TimesLIVE report. The court handed down judgment yesterday in an application for leave to appeal from the Labour Appeal Court concerning the constitutional validity of a mutual separation agreement providing for a waiver of Muyiwa Gbenga-Oluwatoye's right of access to courts.

Having been dismissed by Reckitt Benckiser SA (Pty) Limited (Reckitt) for allegedly misleading the firm when it employed him, Gbenga-Oluwatoye disputed the procedural fairness of his dismissal. He contended that Reckitt had violated his right to be heard because it did not afford him a pre-dismissal hearing. But before the dispute was taken further‚ the parties concluded a mutual separation agreement in full and final settlement of all claims between them. In the agreement‚ Gbenga-Oluwatoye unconditionally waived his right to approach the CCMA or any court for any relief against Reckitt in any dispute arising from his employment or from the separation agreement.

This, however, didn’t stop him and he took the matter to the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court without success. The Constitutional Court, in its judgment, said: ‘When parties settle an existing dispute in full and final settlement, none should be lightly released from an undertaking seriously and willingly embraced. This is particularly so if the agreement was, as here, for the benefit of the party seeking to escape the consequences of his own conduct. Even if the clause excluding access to courts were on its own invalid and unenforceable, the applicant must still fail. This is because he concluded an enforceable agreement that finally settled his dispute with his employer.’

Full TimesLIVE report

Judgment