Hotel told to reinstate waiter

salary and benefits.
Rangarirai Sibanda was employed as a waiter at Vic’s Tavern Hotel in Chivhu when he was demoted to a general hand for allegedly influencing fellow workers to strike.
The strike occurred on January 4, 2009.
He contested his demotion and was fired.
Sibanda took the matter to a labour officer who referred it for arbitration.
The arbitrator ruled that Sibanda was unlawfully dismissed and ordered his reinstatement without loss of salary and benefits.
In the event the reinstatement was untenable, Vic’s Tavern Hotel was ordered to pay damages in lieu of reinstatement.
The hotel then appealed to the Labour Court arguing that Sibanda absented himself from work from January 11, 2009 to the date of appeal.
It further argued that he left employment on his own accord and was never fired.
However, Labour Court president Ms Loice Matanda-Moyo, ruled that the arbitrator found that Vic’s Tavern Hotel was supposed to prefer misconduct charges or whatever other charges.
Ms Matanda-Moyo said: “The respondent had a right to a fair trial before dismissal.
“The arbitrator agreed that the respondent might have committed acts of misconduct, but the appellant (Vic’s Tavern) should have followed the law in disciplining the respondent (Sibanda).”
She pointed out that from the evidence before the arbitrator, such reasoning could not be faulted.
No misconduct charges were preferred against Sibanda yet he was being demoted to a grounds man.
“Appellant’s argument that it was a transfer and not a demotion cannot be supported by evidence.
“Appellant was obviously not telling the truth when he suggested that every employee could be moved to any department,” said Ms Matanda-Moyo dismissing the appeal.