By Own Correspondent

The recently enacted amendments to the Labour Act have made it very tough for companies to undertake reckless and stage managed retrenchments which place workers at the losing end.

The new legal piece reverses  the July 17, 2015, ruling which earned the late former Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and four Supreme Court judges unpopularity after ruling that  employers had the right to terminate employment contracts on notice. The development gave employers the latitude to terminate contracts by giving employees notice ranging between three months’ to just a day’s notice depending on employment contract duration.

The ruling also upheld the retrenchment payment package of just two weeks’ salary for every year served  

The order was recorded under Case No: SC45\2015 — a case in which two former Zuva Petroleum (Pvt) Ltd managers — Don Nyamande and Kingstone Donga — were challenging the termination of their contracts on notice.

The court order triggered job carnage across all sectors of the economy, leaving thousands of once-employed workers hanging precariously on the precipice of economic destitution with nothing to show for their decades’ old sweat.

But in a recently enacted Labour Amendment Act  the insertion of section 12 CC now creates stringent conditions for retrenchments after granting the Retrenchment Board powers to disapprove and create personal liability to the culprits behind the collapse of companies.

“Non-payment of retrenchment package due to fraudulent, reckless or grossly negligent conduct by employer shall result in the courts ordering the payment of the retrenchment package and holding the directors of the company accountable,” reads the Act in part.

The new instrument also has extensive investigatory powers given to NECs and the Retrenchment Board to ascertain if a retrenchment is justified.

Among other positives, the new Act removes the qualification period of one year for any female employee to go on maternity leave thereby making the provision non – discriminatory and aligned to the constitution.

The number of times women can go on maternity leave is now unlimited.

Section 18 A of the new Law now allows employees who are contracted to work on a part-time basis to seek alternative employment during their free time.

This provision protects the workers and ensures those employees on hourly work contracts are not exploited.