RUTH KAMWIA PARTIALLY paralysed former First National Bank of Namibia worker is blaming the financial institution for coercing him to take up a physically intense job, despite his medical concerns.
Michaelangelo Rittmann claims he was forced to take up the position of departmental head of tellers at the FNB main branch on 15 April 2015, following seven months of him trying to get back into the system.
FNB spokesperson Elzita Beukes said that the matter was an old case.
“For employee confidentiality’s sake, we are unable to comment on the agreed terms of Mr Rittmann’s compensation when leaving FNB Namibia in 2015,” she said.
Rittmann claims his journey as a banker started in 2000 when he joined FNB at the age of 18. He then left to join Nedbank for about a year, before returning to FNB in June 2009.
He claims that his time at the bank, however, turned into a nightmare when his health began to take a toll.
Before the interview with , the 34-year-old who was shaky and claimed it is because of the morphine he is taking for pain relief, politely asked to be excused to take a quick bite of his KFC meal.
His 67-year-old mother, Christina Rittmann, had purchased the meal for him prior to the interview, and sat next to him as Rittmann narrated his ordeal.
He said all he wanted was to raise awareness about unfair dismissals so that other people speak out about similar experiences at the hands of their employers.
Rittmann, who has a heart condition, says it worsened when he returned to FNB, and he to undergo open heart surgery in December 2009.
In addition to having a heart condition, Rittmann said his eyesight deteriorated severely between 2011 and 2015, after which he was declared legally blind by an eye specialist.
Rittmann took medical leave between April 2011 and January 2015, during which time he underwent his first corneal transplant [on his right eye] on 8 October 2012.
He then had an operation on his left eye on 16 October 2014.
According to Rittmann, his heart surgeon, Dr Henning du Toit, wrote to FNB both before and after Rittmann’s surgery, explaining the severity of his condition, and what was expected of him and his employer.
In a letter dated 9 November 2009, Dr du Toit told the bank that Rittmann had been diagnosed with severe heart valve disease, and needed to undergo surgery in Cape Town.
Dr du Toit added that Rittmann would have recuperated for work in a period of two months.
A second letter dated 19 April 2010 confirmed that Rittmann had undergone major heart surgery, and that he needed to work in an environment with as little stress as possible – for the sake of his health.
Another letter from Dr du Toit confirmed that Rittmann had been prescribed to take Warfarin blood thinning medication for life following his heart operation. The letter also advised that he be exempted from doing any physical work.
Rittmann says he was then offered the position of departmental head of tellers as an ultimatum as FNB was no longer willing to pay him while he did not perform any work.
By this time, FNB had cut his benefits, and he had to sustain himself from his own resources between March and April 2015.
“They got agitated, that is why they forced me into this position,” Rittmann said about the new position – despite having disclosed to the bank his health condition.
“The difference now was that this new position I was strong-armed into taking was very physical, and had about 17 to 25 indirect subordinates reporting to me,” Rittmann explained.
He then related the events which led to him being confined to a wheelchair.
He claimed that they were working late in moving a significantly heavy amount of cash, including coins, as well as stationery from the second floor when he felt moderate pain in the neck on 16 December 2015, and he alerted his colleagues about it. None of his superiors were present as they had already knocked off at 17h00.
After being assessed by a neurosurgeon, Rittmann underwent emergency surgery on 23 December 2015.
“The continuous and relentless pressure caused my body to be overworked and under severe stress, and eventually it just gave in, and the vessel ruptured,” he continued.
The deputy general secretary of the Namibia Financial Institutions Union (Nafinu), Samuel Vries, told The Namibian this month that he had written to FNB and met the bank’s chief executive officer, Sarel van Zyl over Rittman’s plight, with little success.
“FNB was not prepared to take responsibility,” he added.
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