Walibi Theme Park Accused of Mistreating Student Worker in Brussels

Looking for a job for a year, Samia finally landed an interview last February. "I got a job to work for 14 days between May 22 and June 26 with the possibility of extending it during the months of July and August. Everything was going well even though there weren’t many people. I had to organize the parking, guide visitors, do reception, cleaning," she confides to La Libre.

But after five days of work, the young Brussels woman was summoned by three company managers. "As I entered the office, I immediately felt the heavy atmosphere. [...] I had a bad feeling and I didn’t see what I had done wrong," explains Samia. Without beating around the bush, one of the managers asked the young student to resign. "He didn’t mince his words. In a sneaky and intimidating way, he kept telling me that they had the impression that I didn’t like my job, that I didn’t want to be there, that I wasn’t smiley enough...," she details.

And to add: "I asked why they weren’t firing me and he retorted that then I would have to work a week’s notice that I could better use to find another student job." Having no other alternative, Samia ended up signing her resignation letter. "I no longer had the words and I complied. This situation was oppressive. While I was signing, the three of them were looking at me without expression or empathy... I didn’t make any mistakes. I find it disgusting to treat students that way," complains the student who is left without a job for the summer.

For Samia, she was forced to leave because of the uninteresting forecasts for the summer. "The number of visitors was too low. There were days when we had absolutely nothing to do. At the same time, some permanent employees were in the negative on their balance and had to catch up on their hours," she concludes. For Guillaume Morghen, the Walibi spokesperson, Samia is a "seasonal worker" who "was relatively shy and taciturn with visitors" and "herself decided to terminate the contract" after these exchanges with the managers, stressing that she was never forced to resign.