TOTAL South Africa - Treatment of disabled employee and Contract Breach

TOTAL South Africa, has the worst customer (all stakeholders) service that I have ever experienced both within the company and without.

I am a former employee, who was bul**** and discriminated against. I suffered a burnout, severe depression and suicidal ideation and was rendered mentally disabled. I was placed on temporary disability (six months); during this time they delayed the submission of a health claim by months; the claim was dismissed twice. It took a barely functioning person, me, to find out and prove that the insurance claim submitted by TOTAL was done so with false and incomplete information. By the time the insurance paid out I had been on unpaid leave for months and as the principal breadwinner of the family we took financial strain which caused more relapses in my recovery. I cannot express enough how brokenhearted I was as a mother that I could not give my son a present on his 9th birthday due to the financial difficulty myself and family were in. I requested a separation from TOTAL based on my health and their failure to assist with my recovery. The contact was drawn up based on discussions, what was agreed to and was signed. On receipt of payment with no prior discussion, there had been a number of deductions on the payment value after tax. These were never discussed nor put in black and white on the contract. This puts them in breach of contract and I have tried contacting all the relative members including TOTAL's ethics department in France to resolve this. TOTAL's consistent disregard for being in breach of contract with me and the effort it takes on my side to keep fighting for what is right in my current state of health has resulted in rendering me unemployable. It seems that I am now in the strategic position in my dealings with TOTAL South Africa that "if we ignore it long enough, it will go away". This is a favoured strategy used by many and regarding many situations within TOTAL hence my statement that their customer service is horrific. TOTAL ruined my life. I lived up to my end of the contract of employment for 16 years. I worked hard, always got high performance ratings, innovated, stopped possible areas of ***** and got six mental conditions for my efforts. I have withdrawn from all but immediate family. I go weeks without leaving the house, not even to go into the garden, this has resulted in a vitamin D deficiency. I am in constant mental pain which manifests into various types of physical pain. They broke me, I am not the person I was, I don't think I will ever be that person again. I have tried to fight for what is right despite my pain and I do this in the hopes that they will not do this to someone else and resolve my case so that I can start to move on. So far I have not succeeded.

Those of you who like irony will be interested to know that TOTAL South Africa has won the "Best employer" award for more than 10 consequent years.