adminHarare Bureau
THE failure to pay three months packages to the workers offloaded on notice has backfired on the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management with 13 fired workers suing for $381,000. ZIPAM in August this year terminated employment for the 13 workers on three months’ notice basing on the July landmark Supreme Court judgment but up to now, the former employees have not yet received the notice pay as per the institute’s undertaking.
The institute also indicated on the termination notices that it would pay pension contribution, cash in lieu of leave days, gratuity at the rate of one week salary for every year served but none of the undertakings were fulfilled.
Efforts by the disgruntled group to claim their dues were fruitless prompting them to take the matter for conciliation through the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. They instructed their lawyer Albert Chambati of Chambati, Mataka and Makonese law firm, to lodge an application for conciliation.
In the papers filed at the ministry, the workers are seeking an urgent set down of the matter before a Labour Officer. “We therefore kindly request urgent conciliation dates to resolve the dispute over non-payment of packages of our clients after the termination of their contracts of employment by the employer,” read the papers.
The lawyers said their clients were not challenging termination of their employment contracts but instead, they were claiming their notice pay and other promised benefits. “Our clients, however, instruct us that they do not wish to challenge the termination per se but that they wish to be paid in accordance with the law in lieu of the termination of their employment contracts in terms of the law and as per the employer’s undertaking,” the lawyers said.
“In line with what the employer undertook to pay each of the 13, we attach hereto the schedule marked Annexure B amounting to $381,273.
“Since the date of termination, the employer has refused, failed and or neglected to pay our clients their packages as required by law and as per its undertaking,” read the papers. The workers also contend that in calculating gratuity, the employer used the wrong formula and breached part of the recent Labour Amendment Act, which compels employers to pay at least one month’s salary for every two years served.
“Therefore, in light of the above provision, the employer should pay our clients one month’s salary for every two years served. However, since the date of termination, the employer has failed, refused and or neglected paying our clients their packages,” the lawyers said.
On July 17 this year, the Supreme Court ruled in a matter involving Zuva Petroleum and its two managers Don Nyamande and Kingston Donga, that employers can now terminate employment at any time, without giving any reasons. In terms of the judgment a three months notice for termination should be served on the targeted employees.
The employer is also obliged to pay the workers three month’s salary as notice pay. After the judgment, thousands of workers were left jobless and the government chipped in to protect the masses with a piece of legislation, the Labour Amendment Act 2015, which compels retrospective payment of one month salary for every two years served to the affected workers. Termination of contract on notice became the cheaper way of firing workers and several employers abandoned the retrenchment route.
Online Reporter