Dear Members,

Those of you who are aware of my H’s unfair dismissal almost 3 years ago and his Unfair Dismissal & Automatic Unfair Dismissal (“Whistleblowing”) Court Cases which are still pending:

Well, he eventually received a court date yesterday - 20 November 2006. This date is in two months time and on his birthday! We are so happy and relieved about this news especially since we were told by the attorneys a while ago that my H probably had to wait until next year for a court date because of the Higher Labor Court which is fully booked for the rest of the year. Luckily there was a cancellation and the cases can start sooner now.

Suzet I pray you get a positive settlement to this unpleasant irritant in your lives very soon.

Thanks Bob, we pray for this too… Luckily my H has an extremely strong case. Chances are 99,99% for him to get re-instated in his previous job since his dismissal was automatically unfair. Apart from this, it will also be a relief for us if my H’s name can get “cleared” from this. Every company my H has applied to for jobs so far (except for one), rejected his application/showed disinterest the moment they’ve found out about his dismissal… Even after my H has explained to them the circumstances around his dismissal (that he was victimized and unfairly dismissed) they were still not interested.

Praying for the best possible out come.

Hope you two are doing well.

Maybe one of these days we'll be able to say "hope the three of you are doing well."

God be with you.

SS

do you know if this will be a jury trial, or does a judge decide?

if the ruling is in your H's favor, he may be rewarded compensation for lost wages ... KEWL

Pep

Suzet*,

Good Luck! I hope all goes well for Mr Suzet* and you. I look forward to hearing that he won and both of you can now put this travesty behind you.

Still seeking - thanks for your prayers and thanks for the good wishes! Eagle - thanks for your good wishes too! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> My H and I are doing fine under the circumstances. After all this time and after all this waiting for a court date, the news actually came as a shock (and relief) to me on Tuesday. As a result I felt very emotional yesterday and cried a lot. It was tears of joy but it also felt if all the emotional stress I’ve repressed and bottled up during the past 3 years has finally came out. I needed that and feel much better (almost “cleansed”) today. I have one week leave from work next week so my H and I will have a chance to relax together and spend some quality time together. Next week Thursday will also be our 10th wedding anniversary and we are looking very forward to it!

Pep – a judge will decide. In South-Africa we don’t have a jury trial system. According to the Labor Law here, my H must get fully rewarded for lost wages if gets re-instated – including all benefits he lost during that time e.g. medical aid, pension fund etc. There is also a chance for him to get extra compensation on grounds of pain, suffering and other things, but that will be for the judge to decide. However, if my H win the case but doesn’t get re-instated, he can only be rewarded with compensation for lost wages for a maximum period of 2 years. However, we hope my H will get re-instated. The compensation my H will receive if/when he win the case; gets reinstated and secured with a permanent job again, will enable us to finally go through with the expensive infertility treatment (ICSI) we had to put on hold since my H was dismissed.

I will keep you all updated. My H will be prepared by the attorneys for the upcoming court case in advance (a week or two before the case) and I know the time before/during the case is going to be a very stressful time for him (and me) too. I will post on any major developments.

NS: We’ve decided the day my H win his case and gets reinstated, we are going to celebrate BIG and probably that day I will get totally drunk for the first day in my life! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Getting totally drunk is NOT as much fun as it sounds .... aim for a few pegs under "totally"

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Okay pep, I will follow your advice! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> My H and I only use alcohol occasionally (with celebrations, at restaurants etc.) so my system can’t really handle a lot of alcohol because of my low tolerance level for it. And my tolerance level is even lower since I’ve started taking chronic AD medication a few years ago. For this reason, I usually don’t take more than 2 drinks at a time. The most drinks I've ever consumed during one evening (before I started with the medication) were approximately 5 drinks. I felt terrible the next day…extremely tired and had a BIG hangover, so I understand what you’re saying about it not being fun! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Drunk is not fun. Wasted on chocolate is better.

Congratulations on finally getting a court date. I hope you are pleased with the outcome. I hope the judge is very fair and impartial. And, I hope you are soon able to move past this big obstacle in your lives.

Cinderella, actually I agree with you... I'm crazy about chocolates and especially the dark, bitter Albany type of chocolate is my favorite treat! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your good wishes, it’s much appreciated. We believe the outcome will be fair and that everything will work out as we hope & pray it will...

good luck Mr. Suzet!!

wow, if your husband gets reinstated and the back pay, you can quit your job and leave OM far behind, huh?

there will be no more excuses, will there?

hope it works out so you can quit

Moveforward, if my H gets reinstated with back pay, approximately 40% of the money must go to the tax man and the other 60% will just help to make up for what we’ve lost financially & materially during the past 3 years... Therefore, other than most people who don’t know better might think, his back pay money will not make us rich or enable us to live without a second income indefinitely...especially not since the only way we can try to conceive a child of our own is through extremely expensive infertility treatment...something which will not be covered by our medical aid and something we can’t postpone much longer. So, considering all of this I will not be able to quit my job unless I find another one first. Something which is very unlikely for me because of political & economical reasons (affirmative action & high unemployment rate) in this country.

Suzet,
How are you these days?

Mostly good?

SS

Still seeking,

Generally I’m doing fine and yes, I mostly feel good these days. Thanks so much for asking. I appreciate your concern and interest very much! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Since we’ve heard about my H’s court date (and after my emotional state and tears the next day), I really feel much more “stable” emotionally & generally in a good mood since then… Not any extreme “ups” and “downs” anymore. A while back - before we’ve received the good news about the date - I could feel how my underlying depression was starting to get worse and have taken its toll on me. For a while, I had this very ‘dark cloud’ on my mood and as a result of it, I struggled to cope and keeping myself together... I was starting to feel discouraged and was losing hope & patience in the circumstances. I also felt generally very frustrated, irritated & unmotivated, especially at my work place - the same institution where my H was victimized and dismissed from. But as I’ve said, since we’ve received some good news on my H’s situation for a change and have the prospect of hopefully continuing on with our personal lives again soon (and hopefully put this thing behind us very soon), I feel much more positive and hopeful again! Last week I also had leave from work and it was me and hubby’s 10th wedding anniversary during that week too, so this all had added to my general good mood of lately! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

As far as the XOM is concerned: After the e-mail exchanges more than 3 months ago I was back in some sort of withdrawal for a short while, but that is in the past now. He has not tried to contact me again since the last NC letter. I briefly bumped in him twice since then, but other than the previous times, he just greeted very brusquely and didn’t try to make “small talk”. This is a big relief and I’m pretty sure I will not have problems in this regard again in future.