Do employees have any obligations under Level 4 of the Lockdown?

The publishing of the revised Level 4 Guidelines in terms of which some vehicle manufacturing, sales, maintenance and repair work are permitted, subject to set limitations, has been met with some excitement at the prospect of being able to return to some form of ‘normal day-to-day working life’, while others are feeling overwhelmed by the pending changes.

There has been a lot of information shared regarding what is required from employers during this period, yet some employees may still not know what is required of them as they prepare to go back to work.

As much as the amended Disaster Management Act, 2002, as well as the Covid-19 Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Workplaces set out in greater detail what is required from the employer, there are corresponding obligations set out for employees as well.

Employers are required to put in place necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of their employees, however, employees have a shared responsibility for health and safety within the work place in that they are required to:

• Share the responsibility with the employer to pro-actively identify dangers and develop control measures to make the workplace safe;
• Comply with social distancing and medical screening measures implemented by the employer;
• Not refuse to undergo COVID-19 medical screening;
• Immediately inform the employer if they are aware of any risk to their health as well as to the health of their colleagues;
• Abide by any policies adopted by the employer to curb the spread of COVID-19;
• Comply with all legal workplace policies and processes implemented by the employer;
• Comply with permits issued for the purposes of commuting to and from work and to not abuse these permits;
• Comply with all legislative provision which are in place as well as any amendments to such provisions.

It will be a long time before life returns to the way it was prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, in the mean time we need to bear with the changes and any restrictions and inconvenience they seem to impose on our everyday lives.

It is important that as we are excited by the prospects of returning to work, we should not, in any way think that it is business as usual and become relaxed about our own health and safety as well as that of our colleagues, customers and members.

Through it all remember that MISA is here for you because MISA Cares.

You may contact MISA for assistance through:

Employer UIF/TERS Submissions/ support:             UIFClaim@ms.org.za

Legal/Labour related enquiries:                                Legal@ms.org.za       

MISA Benefit and claim related enquiries:              Claims@misa.org.za  

Any other enquiries:                                                   Info@ms.org.za          

MISA Website:                                                             www.misa.org.za

MISA Mobile App:                                                      https://onelink.to/w9a7ku