Sex worker to approach ConCourt

2008-08-21 21:20

Pretoria - Kylie, the Cape Town sex worker who recently lost her case in the Labour Court, will approach the Constitutional Court directly on Thursday to obtain relief, the Women's Legal Centre (WLC) said.

"We hope that the court will grant her direct access to argue her case without further expensive and lengthy processes of appeal to the other courts," said WLC director Jennifer Williams.

Kylie, as she is referred to by her legal team, went to the Labour Court in July to contest her dismissal, which she said was unfair, for misconduct from the massage parlour where she worked.

While the court accepted her argument that she was an employee in terms of the Labour Relations Act, it found that because she was a sex worker, which is illegal, it would not enforce her rights.

"This is an important constitutional matter for the court to decide, as the Labour Court relied on a constitutional principle of unenforceability of illegal contracts to deny her a remedy after finding that she is in fact an employee," said Williams.

She said Kylie was poor and vulnerable and represented thousands of women in society.

The WLC, Kylie's attorneys, were expected to file an application with the Constitutional Court on Thursday asking it to grant her an opportunity to argue her case.

The case is based on the fact that the constitutional principles applied by the Labour Court amounted to not enforcing her rights as an employee, and not allowing her to have her case heard by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

Kylie is assisted by the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force (Sweat).

Sweat advocacy co-ordinator Vivienne Lalu said she was disappointed by the Labour Court's ruling.

"Should the Constitutional Court choose to decide to hear the case then sex workers, who often work under extremely exploitative conditions, will know if they are protected by the labour law and that they will be able to obtain some relief," she said.

Kylie was employed by Brigitte's Massage Parlour in Cape Town as a sex worker from 1993 until she was dismissed on April 30, 2003.

She has earlier said was not informed of the actions that could lead to dismissal and was given no opportunity to state her case as no enquiry was held.

Kylie apparently received a letter on April 23 2006 terminating her employment and telling her to vacate the premises within a week.

The reasons given for her dismissal were that she failed to do sufficient bookings, did not manage her time and chose specific clients.

She allegedly also spent an hour in her room with her boyfriend who did not pay for the "service".

- SAPA