Disney sends fired worker home to Botswana

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer

September 5, 2008

Sometime this morning, Odirile "Jojo" Rammoni will arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa, then board a plane for the fourth and final leg of his 9,000-mile, 24-hour journey home to the African country of Botswana.

He would rather be at Walt Disney World, where he had worked as a cultural representative of his country since March. Rammoni wanted to defend himself against allegations that he improperly touched a female co-worker's breast during a publicity photo shoot in Disney's Animal Kingdom in July.

After an internal investigation, Disney fired him Aug. 28. Then, while he and his union were pursuing a labor grievance to fight the allegations and seek a reinstatement, Disney arranged a flight home for him instead.

Whether or not Rammoni, 25, is guilty as accused of sexual harassment, his experience offers a glimpse into the control that employers such as Disney can exercise in dealing with problems involving the international workers brought to Central Florida on work visas.

Disney World has hundreds of such employees, in areas ranging from animal care to entertainment, under a comprehensive program that recruits workers from throughout the world by offering visa arrangements, a place to live, transportation, most other living arrangements and even a plane ticket. When Rammoni got into trouble, he found that everything but the plane ticket home could quickly be withdrawn.

As recently as Wednesday afternoon, he said, he had been looking forward to an arbitration hearing. Then a Disney official brought him a plane ticket Wednesday night and told him he would be taken to Orlando International Airport the following morning.

"I'm just sad. I'm shocked, you know," Rammoni said by phone Thursday before boarding a connecting flight from Atlanta to Dakar, Senegal. "They did not give me time to say goodbye to people."

Disney does not comment on personnel matters and, according to a Disney spokeswoman, "This is a personnel matter."

The union representing Rammoni vowed to continue the grievance process, though Rammoni might have to attend any arbitration hearing by trans-Atlantic telephone.

Dick Hatch, a vice president with Unite HERE Local 362, said it wasn't until several weeks after the photo shoot that Disney advised the union that Rammoni was being suspended, pending an investigation. Last week, Hatch said, Disney announced it had concluded the investigation and fired Rammoni. The union filed a grievance. A hearing was held Tuesday, leading to a split decision. The union began its own investigation.

Even though Rammoni may never return to Disney World, Hatch said, the union expects to take the case to arbitration. Rammoni is a native dancer, and Hatch said the union would like to clear his record so that he would not have trouble obtaining a visa to return to the United States someday.

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.