adminLabour Matters Davies Ndumiso Sibanda
MANY employees living in employer provided accommodation are not sure of their rights when they leave employment and on many occasions many are abused by employers who force them to leave immediately they cease to be employers. The legal position is that where an employee is provided accommodation directly or indirectly by the employer the employee is allowed to stay in employer provided accommodation for a month after ceasing to be an employee. This applies to employees who have resigned, dismissed or retired.
Direct accommodation is housing provided by the employer in his own houses as is the case in many mines and plantations. The terms of occupying the accommodation are as dictated by the employer usually in the form of conditions of service or lease agreements.
Where the employer gives a worker a lease agreement, the worker has to abide by the provisions of the lease agreement and make any payment such as for water and lights, otherwise the worker could lose the accommodation. Further, workers can be disciplined by the employer for any act inconsistent with the provided conditions for staying at the houses.
Authority must be sought from the employer for engaging in activities that have nothing to do with the employer at the premises for example, wielding business that will consume electricity or any other business that will consume water or be of nuisance value such as keeping chickens, keeping many dogs and having parties.
There are, however, instances where the workers are allowed to stay beyond the legal minimum depending on the nature of the mutual agreement between the parties.
It is important for a worker who would like to stay beyond the legal minimum to make sure that there is a clear written agreement on the terms of the new agreement and further the worker should not force the stay as the cost of litigation could be very expensive if the employer takes the eviction route.
Employees also need to respect the employer’s property by not carelessly damaging the fixtures in the house as the employer might demand the employee pays for the damage which can easily turn clumsy with the employer withholding the worker’s terminal benefits to offset the cost of repairs more so if the accommodation agreement provides for recovery of costs related to damage to property.
There are also many organisations particularly in mining that provide transport for workers to any destination within Zimbabwe if the worker leaves soon after terminating employment. It is advisable for workers to take advantage of such offers as delays could prove costly for many workers when the employer’s offer is no longer available.
To avoid the problem of employees who refuse to leave employer provided accommodation, employers have to encourage employees to get own accommodation so that when they leave employment they have somewhere to go.
Alternatively, employees can be assisted to participate in housing schemes where the can build or buy their own houses.
Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: e: [email protected]: 0772 375 235
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