Employees going to work during heavy rains and flooding.
Image: Independent Newspapers
As severe weather conditions wreak havoc across KwaZulu-Natal, questions are being raised about the responsibilities of employers towards their staff during natural disasters.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize said no employees have approached the union about being forced to work during severe weather alerts or conditions.
Mkhize said caring employers prioritise the safety of their employees. When severe weather conditions like floods are expected, they often release their employees early and advise them against coming to work.
“It’s employers who are ruthless, who don’t think for employees,” Mkhize said.
He said Cosatu is always ready to assist workers who are facing challenges and will investigate all available options to provide support.
KZN National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) deputy secretary Ntokozo Nxumalo said they were only having challenges in the private sector.
“The government has a policy that speaks to disasters. In the event of a disaster, what to do as an employee,” Nxumalo said.
“At times we have a problem with employers who don’t want to implement the policy to the tee,” Nxumalo continued.
“The government’s policy states that if there is an issue of a disaster and you are unable to get to work, you can stay at home until you can access the workplace.”
Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) provincial manager Mlungisi Ndlovu said that sometimes some managers expect employees to go to work during severe weather, usually due to staff shortages.
“Others went to work during these recent floods,” Ndlovu said.
He said there are policies in place, but they are not consistently implemented, which is causing this issue.
“There are exceptional cases where employers shouldn’t risk employees’ lives. There should be contingency plans in place in case situations like these arise,” Ndlovu said.
Lamontville flood victim Nothando Mdlalose said some displaced flood victims, employed as domestic workers and security guards, have not worked since last month’s floods. Some left their jobs willingly because they do not have anything, no means to get to work and no clothes to wear. However, others had understanding employers. They would return to work eventually.
DA Employment & Labour spokesperson and labour lawyer Michael Bagraim said if the weather is so bad that it makes it almost impossible to travel to get to work then the employer has to take that into account.
“The reality is that we are going to be facing this in the future and the employer owes a duty of care to every single employee. Employees need to be safe and secure and cannot be expected to risk injury, ill-health or even death. The duty of care owed by employers to employees is all-embracing and has to a large degree be able to accommodate the employees in those circumstances,” Bagraim explained.
“Our law is clear in that all employees fall under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act.”
Bagraim said in situations where weather is extremely severe then you cannot punish employees who cannot get to work and who fear for their safety. Those employees will probably not earn but will not have their jobs threatened.
University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor in Marine Geology, Andrew Green, explained: “We know the globe is warming. Sea levels are rising and with that we expect larger storms and more frequently. That’s exactly what we’ve shown from the geological record, at least offshore KZN, that we should be expecting much larger storms.”
Green said tropical cyclones and their effects will move further south, eventually crossing over where Durban is.
“On the time scale, it’s hard to say we don’t have enough evidence to be confident about that… we try to model around actual physical evidence, so no one can say exactly when, but we can say exactly the fact that it will,” Green said.
“Expect the fact that we’re going to have these extreme weather events.”
thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za