The Covid-19 Pandemic has affected companies in a number of ways. Some have become insolvent, some are making significant changes to their organizational structures, employers and employees have succumbed to Covid-19, among others.
Here is how the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected the employer-employee relationship;
1. Insolvency of employer;
Insolvency is a state of financial distress in which a company is unable to pay its debts. This will normally force the company to wind – up or file for bankruptcy. This shall cause the contract of service of any employee to terminate one month from the date of the bankruptcy or winding-up order. The employee can still claim for his/her wages or other payments.
2. Employers are unable to pay wages;
This is because of the different lockdowns imposed following the Covid-19 Pandemic and the negative impact that the Pandemic has had on the economy. Companies’ operations have dramatically slowed down leading to revenue losses. Where an employer is unable to pay wages, an employee can apply to a Labour Officer to declare the contract of service terminated without prejudice to all outstanding and accrued rights.
3. Employers are unable to provide the employees with work;
It is the duty of an employer to provide his or her employee with work. However, an employer is not liable to provide work where interruptions to his or her business activities are caused by economic reasons which result in a shortage or reduction of work that is beyond the employer’s control and in such circumstances, the employer is only allowed a maximum of fifteen days in any one six-month period. On days where an employer fails to provide work, he or she is required to pay to the employee wages at the same rate as if the employee had performed a day’s work.
4. Death of an employer;
Many people have succumbed to Covid-19 including employers. If an employer dies and his personal or legal position forms the basis of the employment relationship with the employee, his or her death causes the contract of service to terminate one month from the date of the employer’s death.
5. Death of an employee;
In case an employee dies during the term of a contract of service, his or legal representative is entitled to the wages and any other remuneration due to the employee at the date of death.
6. Sick pay;
Covid-19 patients are unable to physically report to work until they are well. If a patient is an employee who has worked with an employer for more than one month, and is normally employed for at least sixteen hours a week, he or she is entitled to sick pay. For the first month’s absence from work, the employee is entitled to full wages and benefits and if at the expiration of the second month the employee is still sick, the employer is entitled to terminate the contract of service on complying with all its terms up to the time of termination of employment.
7. Termination of a Contract of Service;
Many employees are being laid off following the Covid-19 Pandemic. These contracts of service are normally ended by the employer with notice in writing to the employee in a form and language he or she understands, explaining the reason for the termination. The employer is required to give the employee a sufficient notice period or pay to the employee the wages they would have earned had they worked for their full notice period.
A contract for a probationary period may be terminated by the employer by giving not less that fourteen days’ notice of termination or by payment of seven days’ wages instead of notice.
8. Collective terminations;
Where an employer contemplates terminations of more than ten employees over a period of not more than three months for economic or structural reasons, he shall notify the Labour Commissioner in writing of the reasons for the terminations, the number and categories of workers likely to be affected and the period over which the terminations are intended to be carried out.
9. Severance allowance;
This is the compensation and/or benefits usually based on length of service that is payable to an employee on termination of employment. It is paid to an employee who has been in continuous service for a period of 6 months or more and where the contract is terminated by reason of the death or insolvency of the employer or terminated by a labour officer following the inability of the employer to pay wages. This allowance is negotiable between the employer and the employee. An employer who fails to pay severance allowance without good cause commits an offence and shall pay a fine calculated at two times the amount of severance allowance payable and it shall be paid to the employee.
Conclusion
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