EMPLOYEE CONDUCT SOLUTIONS FOR MUNICIPALITIES

SOLUTIONS

Rio Nolutshungu

EMPLOYEE CONDUCT

SOLUTIONS FOR MUNICIPALITIES

The outcomes of the South African Local Government Association’s fourth annual local government labour law seminar held earlier this year. By Itumeleng Mogaki

The theme for this year’s labour law seminar, “Sustaining an E ective Municipal Labour Relations System Beyond The COVID-19 Pandemic” was intended to keep relevant municipal delegates abreast of important and topical developments in labour relations.

Attended by approximately 600 delegates that connected virtually, while the organisers and some speakers attended physically, the seminar was hosted across various disciplines within the municipal capabilities and governance cluster.

SALGA’s senior manager of collective bargaining and labour relations, Zwelandile Ndlala, says the seminar created a platform for thought leadership engagement, networking, and sharing of best practices.

CHALLENGES

The most common challenge had to do with municipalities encountering employee behavioural conduct during the pandemic state of emergency.

“The pandemic brought new ways of doing work, which created a lot of contradiction on how employees conduct themselves,” says Ndlala. “The area of attendance, for example, was particularly problematic. You then ask how you begin to manage your workforce with regards to adherence to those acceptable work rules.”

Another challenge related to the right of an employee to refuse to vaccinate.

“At the very beginning of the outbreak, people were told they were under no obligation to have the vaccination. Now, when you are running an organisation that services people directly and you have a group of people that don’t want to subject themselves to vaccination because the law is on their side, what do you do then?” he asks.

Ndlala also mentions the issue of people with comorbidities.

“An employee with comorbidities refusing to report to work because they feel strongly that regulations are on their side, leaves the employer with only one option – to decide on the continuity of employability of that person,” he explains.

The above resulted in a variety of decided cases heard at CCMA and labour court level.

Ndlala went on to say: “Bearing in mind that the di erent municipalities have their unique challenges, delegates were able to nd solutions because they were talking to people who might have gone through the same kind of experiences. “Apart from collective bargaining-related topics, most of our topics revolved around COVID-19, and it was our duty to provide clear guidance on how municipalities should react to such conditions. “You would expect municipalities to change gears on how they deliver services. When COVID-19 hit, we never had the opportunity to prepare accordingly; we just had to go with the changes.” On the issue of employees refusing to get vaccinated, Ndlala says delegates that partook in the seminar left knowing what to do when faced with that challenge. “Municipalities were advised to develop a state of emergency policy and to run that policy through various channels within the organisation, including the legal department. “With the issue of comorbidities, the labour relations act is clear that you can terminate the services of an employee on three grounds – misconduct; operational reasons, for example, the employer is restructuring; or failure to perform,” he explains. Absenteeism and other employee work conduct matters that were of concern should no longer be an issue for municipalities as the seminar’s law experts had answered all outbreak, people were told those concerns.

TAKE AWAYS

“We now have a solution for employees who refuse to vaccinate. The municipality would have to enforce the policy to make sure people vaccinate,” says Ndlala. “Equally, people with comorbidities who don’t want to take preventative themselves to vaccination measures to ensure that their level of because the law is on their side, risk exposure is minimised must now know what do you do then?” he asks. what the consequences will be.”

Ndlala also mentions the issue of In conclusion, Ndlala says: “We evaluated people with comorbidities. many of the recent court decisions. That kind of jurisprudence helps municipalities respond to some of the issues that normally emerge, and the municipality has no clue how to deal with that kind of scenario. “We, therefore, implore municipalities to attend these seminars that are designed so they can receive help from the experts we enlist to supply professional advice.” ▪

those concerns. Zwelandile people vaccinate,” says Ndlala.

Ndlala

who don’t want to take preventative measures to ensure that their level of risk exposure is minimised must now know what the consequences will be.” In conclusion, Ndlala says: “We evaluated many of the recent court decisions. That kind of