Davies Ndumiso Sibanda
THE Covid-19 lockdown has presented many challenges for both employers and employees and in most instances resulting in conflict. One of the most common areas of conflict between employers and workers who have returned to work is poor time keeping by employees who allege transport challenges and also argue that while transport was there, it was not safe to use it and as such they had to use transport that they believed was safe.

Some workers in cities like Bulawayo have alleged that they have had no water for days and as such they had to queue for water which is delivered by City Council bowsers. The challenge for the employer with all these cases is that there are genuine arguments, which impact on the business but should they be condoned? There is no one size fits all answer, the circumstances of each case will have to be looked at.

There are workers who have been called back to work but because they are now engaged in something more lucrative than their jobs, they raise so many excuses for not coming back to work, including fear of Covid-19 and that they have a slight flue and as such they need to be tested before they come to work. That presents employers with a challenge. There are also cases of workers who are genuinely sick during the lockdown and are suffering from ailments other that Covid-19. In my view, these, if called to work have to fill sick leave forms.

Cases of precautional isolation of workers who are supposed to be at work create headaches for employers because the employee will be fit and ready to work and is not sick at all but is away from work because of an act of Government, which requires that if you have had contact with an infected person, you have to self-quarantine.

Who then should pay the worker for such a period? Some have argued that such workers should work from home, but not all work can be done from home and there are also productivity issues that arise from working from home. Others have argued that the employer should pay only if the precautionary isolation is a result of a contact, which occurred while on duty but others have argued that self-isolation is act of

Government and should therefore not affect the worker. In such cases the worker is willing to work and the employer wants the employee to work but due to Covid-19 regulations he or she should self isolate if he or she is a contact and as such some argue that such a worker should be compensated by Government.

There are also cases of employees on compulsory isolation, such quarantine of employees is a result of testing positive for Coronavirus and nobody wants to be with this employee, the employer does not want such an employee at his premises, the Government requires that the employee quarantines. The question that arises is “Does this worker qualify for sick leave”?

Employees with underlying health conditions have been selected to remain at home while others go to work and, in some cases, have lost out on wages, benefits or bonuses. The argument that has arisen is, is this fair or unfair discrimination?

We are aware in Europe those with underlying conditions and those above 60 years have been the last to be recalled to work and have remained on unemployment benefits. The challenge in Zimbabwe is that we do not have unemployment benefits. What then should be done to those employees if they want to come back to work but belong to the high-risk population.

Other problem areas relate to working from home and discipline, working short hours, changing conditions of service, offloading excess labour, vacation leave, Covid-19 risk assessment, handling Covid-19 injuries on duty while people are working from home, conduct of workers committee and works council meetings. All these are grey areas that require a lot of time to address.

In conclusion, this is a very wide and complex area requiring employers and employees to exercise caution and seek legal advice where they are not clear, more- so we are also travelling through unchartered waters.

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: email: [email protected]