Malawi charity staff to sue Madonna for unfair dismissal
March 28th, 2011 - 2:42 pm ICT by IANS
London, March 28 (IANS) Pop diva Madonna, who dropped plans of building a school for girls in African nation, is now facing legal action for unfair dismissal from former employees of the Raising Malawi charity.
Madonna had been working on building a $15 million education facility in the village of Chinkhota through her charitable organisation. But the project has now been abandoned amid allegations of financial mismanagement, prompting Madonna to dismiss the foundation’s board of directors.
However, the singer’s representatives have since blamed former Raising Malawi executive director Philippe van den Bossche, who quit in October, for the mess.
But Madonna’s actions have landed her in trouble with eight disgruntled employees at Raising Malawi taking their labour complaints to the country’s industrial court, reports contactmusic.com.
The workers’ lawyer, Mzondi Chirambo, said: “Their employment was terminated by the trustees of Raising Malawi Academy for Girls ostensibly following the change of plan not to build the school as planned. My clients are also being forced to sign a discriminatory termination agreement before they are paid their benefits.”
Madonna has 14 days to respond to the claim, but the workers are likely to face a tough fight - the singer is looking into her own legal options and is considering filing suit against those involved in the failure of the school.
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- Madonna's Malawi project leader set to put new plan into gear - Feb 18, 2011
- Madonna's plan to build school in Malawi collapses - Mar 25, 2011
- Madonna axes board of directors of her Raising Malawi charity - Apr 03, 2011
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- Madonna's new Malawi school drives villagers off their lands - Feb 08, 2010
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- Madonna's charity director denies reports of villagers' anger over school - Feb 16, 2010
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Tags: african nation, allegations, board of directors, charitable organisation, charity, disgruntled employees, education facility, executive director, financial mismanagement, labour, lawyer, legal options, london march, madonna, pop diva, s board, s industrial, termination agreement, unfair dismissal, van den bossche