Casuals in State firms can sue employers, says minister

Mon, 30 Jan 2017 12:26:07 +0000

By MAILESI BANDA

GOVERNMENT has challenged employees working as casuals in parastatal companies to take management to court as the law to ban casualization has already been passed.

Labour and Social Security Minister, Joyce Nonde-Simukoko, said the role of the Government was to formulate and enact laws and it was up to the affected parties to act when their rights were infringed upon.

The minister said the law did not have specifications as to who it applied to, but was universal and Government institutions were not an exception.

She was reacting to allegations from the Zambia Union of Financial and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) general secretary Chingati Msiska that Government had more people employed on casual basis than the private sector.

Mr. Chingati said there was need for both the Government and the private sector to understand the labour laws and work towards implementing them.

“There are more casual workers doing jobs of permanent nature in Government institutions than the private sector and this is regrettable because Government is supposed to be the first to adhere to labour laws’’, Mr Msiska said.

He said there was need for the Ministry of Labour to strengthen their inspections in companies to find out if labuor laws were being adhered to. The minister, however, said Government passed laws and the mandate for them to be effective rested upon the different stakeholders.

“It is up to the people working as casuals in Government institutions to take management to court if they are doing jobs that are permanent in nature since the Government cannot know if they do not take a step,’’ she said.

She advised trade unions to be proactive in ensuring that the laws Government passed were implemented.