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IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG
CASE NUMBER: 23347/2014
(1) REPORTABLE: ¥85/NO
(2) OF INTEREST TO OTHER JUDGES: YES/NO
(3) REVISED: YES/NO YY,
3 [4/2015 :
DATE SIGNATYRE
,
In the matter between: -
HECTOR PAREDES-TARAZONA Plaintiff
and
WORLEY PARSONS SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD Defendant
JUDGMENT
GEORGIADES AJ:
[1] The plaintiff (‘Mr Paredes”) hails from Peru. He came to South Africa in
2
early 1991. He holds a degree in Mining Engineering, Advanced
Management and an MBA. He held several employment positions as a
mining engineer and as a managing director.
[2] In this action he claims damages in contract against the defendant.
[3] On 16 November 2009 Mr Paredes entered into an employment contract
with TWP Projects (Pty) Ltd (“TWP”). This contract was amended by several
addenda.
[4] TWP sent him to Peru. His employment contract remained extant. For
purposes of complying with the laws of Peru, he entered into a contract
with TWP Sudamerica SAC on 1 July 2010. This contract was also amended
by several addenda. These are not relevant for purposes of this judgment.
He was paid a salary in Peru from March 2010.
[5] An addendum to Mr Paredes’ contract of employment with TWP was signed
by him on 12 November 2012. This contract identified “the company”
acquiring TWP as Worley Parsons SA (Pty) Ltd.
[6] Effective 1 August 2013 a personnel transfer agreement was concluded
transferring his employment from TWP Sudamerica SA to Worley Parsons
Peru SAC.
[7] The issue in this matter is whether Mr Paredes’ contract was ever
transferred to the defendant, Worley Parsons SA (Pty) Ltd.
[8] One of the addenda to his contract with TWP, on 18 October 2012, arose
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out of a letter received by him on a “Worley Parsons RSA” letterhead from
Mr Andrew Fletcher, advising him of new terms and conditions of
employment in anticipation of the sale of shares in TWP’s shareholder, TWP
Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
[9] The shares in TWP Holdings (Pty) Ltd were sold by Basil Read Holdings Ltd
to Worley Parsons RSA (Pty) Ltd, with a sale of shares agreement signed
on 23 October 2012 and the effective date of the sale defined as
1 January 2013.
[10] From the effective date, being 1 January 2013, Worley Parsons RSA (Pty)
Ltd became the shareholder of TWP Holdings (Pty) Ltd and indirectly TWP
Projects (Pty) Ltd.
[11] It was common cause that in February 2014 Mr Paredes was advised in
writing by Mr Mark Trueman, Managing Director of Worley Parsons Latin
America, that his position in Peru had become redundant and would end
and that he would be relocated back to South Africa. Mr Trueman advised
the Mr Paredes to contact Ms Lindani Ndlovu with respect to human
resources (“HR”) in South Africa and Mr Fletcher with respect to HR at a
global level.
[12] Ms Ndlovu corresponded with Mr Paredes regarding his retrenchment in
terms of section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 (“LRA”) and
then referred the discussion to the defendant’s witness, Mr Philip Gallie, the
Head of Legal and Risk for Worley Parsons RSA (Pty) Ltd.
[13] After several correspondence, Mr Paredes was advised by Mr Gallie in