The smelly lunch that led to a lawsuit
A young employee is suing his employer for forcing him to eat his lunch outside, claiming it smells bad.
Every office has that lunch. The one that turns heads, wrinkles noses and makes people question their life choices.
But what happens when the lunchtime war turns into a full-blown courtroom drama?
David Moetji, a law student working as a messenger at a Pretoria law firm, is suing his boss for unfair discrimination. He was allegedly banished from eating indoors due to the smell of his food.
Since December 2024, he's been forced to eat his meals outside, whether in rain or shine, while his colleagues continue to feast comfortably inside the firm.
His breaking point? It was on January 14, when he asked if he could finally eat inside again. He was reportedly told that only sandwiches would be allowed – no curries, stews, or hearty home-cooked meals – just a sad, silent sandwich.
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After feeling disrespected (and probably very cold), Moetji took the matter to the CCMA and the Equality Court, demanding a whopping R500,000 in damages.
His boss, Mark Efstratiou, insists it was all a misunderstanding. He claims he never banned all food, just the “really smelly stuff that, once microwaved, could clear a room faster than a fire drill".
Sadly now, the battle lines have been drawn.
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This situation has now opened up a smelly can of questions:
What exactly is the legal threshold for your food being “too smelly”?
Should there be a universal office smell scale?
And, most importantly, when did sandwiches become the only acceptable office meal?
Whatever happens though, this case is clearly set to be a landmark moment in the fight for lunch in the workplace.
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