“This pain is going to kill me. I am so hurt,” she tells Drum.
The domestic worker who made the news for disputing her retirement package says she still doesn’t understand what she’s done to deserve her fate.
“I was thrown out like a dog after all the years I worked for him.”
Elizabeth Molise (70) approached the media when she was asked to sign a retirement contract drawn up by her boss, German businessman Harald Scheppig, and his attorneys. He offered her a lump sum of R40 000 and a monthly allowance of R1 500.
Officially she was supposed to retire at the end of this month but on 8 January, Elizabeth says her belongings in the up-market house in Somerset West, Western Cape, were thrown out and a removal truck was called to take her home to Bloemfontein in the Free State.
She has returned to Cape Town since then to try and sort out the mess because she says she’s had no communication with Harald as he refuses to take her calls.
Elizabeth is distraught, as she doesn’t know how she will get her money and her house in Bloemfontein still has a bond.
“What am I going to do? How will I even pay for this house?” she asks.
She has refused to sign the contract because she has many questions about how her package was calculated. She believes she should be getting much more after three decades of dedicated service. In addition, there's no clarity on how long her monthly allowance will last.
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Elizabeth tells Drum the trouble began when things started going missing from the house in November and December last year.
Years ago, she can’t remember exactly when, she says there was a serious burglary when seven gunmen broke into the house. She insists she had nothing to do with it and she stayed on in her job, but her son Julius (now 29), who was living with her at the house at the time, was asked to leave.
“As if my son is a thug!” Elizabeth says in disbelief. “He’s a good child, not into drugs or anything like that.”
This time around, Elizabeth was given the boot.
In the retirement contract, which Drum has a copy of, it said she and her boss “acknowledged” that items had been going missing from the house over the past few months, and that she would retire on 1 February 2021.
This was something Elizabeth didn’t want to put her name to, she tells us.
“When they told me to leave, I was forced to sign a document written ‘retirement package’ but I refused and told him that I needed time. I didn’t go to school, so I don’t know English properly,” she says.
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Much uncertainty remains for Elizabeth.
She says she never signed an employment contract, her salary was very low, and she’s not sure if she was properly registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
“For many years I earned R2 000 or so. It was only in recent years, around 2017/18, that he decided to pay me R5 000,” she says.
She recalls going to the department of labour with Harald to register for UIF, but she doesn’t know if it was processed and if her employer made the contributions.
Elizabeth’s is a familiar story, says Zanele Diniso, founder of Periwinkle Home Executives that trains and places domestic workers in jobs.
“In many cases, domestic workers don't ask for contracts because they fear finding themselves unemployed because of asking for one. Those who are not good at speaking the language don't feel comfortable communicating in English, so they never know what they are getting themselves into,” she says.
If you don’t get payslips, Zanele says there’s no way of tracking UIF contributions so she advises Elizabeth to go to the department of labour to check her status – all the information should be there.
She says the law does not make it compulsory for any worker to get a pension.
“They have to agree with the employer upfront and that is a deduction they agree on throughout the person's employment. Unfortunately, if it was never deducted then they are not entitled. From way back, it was never formalised and it was always from the employers ‘good heart’ whenever they decided to give a retirement package.”
The best bet for a domestic worker is to establish a good relationship with your boss, Zanele says.
“These kinds of stories come up in our workshops quite a lot. To those who are still employed or looking to be domestic workers, I would say have an honest relationship with the employer so you can discuss issues openly without fearing losing your job.”
She stresses the need to have a contract, as relationships can change.
“Contracts are important for both parties, and duties and responsibilities should be discussed openly,” she adds.
Drums efforts to reach Harald were unsuccessful.
