I WOULD not be misguiding readers of this column if I concluded that matters of gratuity in many workplaces in Zambia have curled up into prickly balls.
This is because the rising number of inquiries I am receiving from aggrieved workers suggests so.
Last week I promised to respond to a reader who sought to find out what she should do in a case where she has been offered a contract that indicates that she is not entitled to gratuity.
She stated that others in the private company who are either on one or two-year contracts are also caught up in a similar predicament.
And this week, I received a call from a distressed employee of a prominent hotel in Livingstone who said management had announced it would soon sell the business to another investor, and the workers to be offloaded would not get their gratuity.
My point of entry into this subject is to first explain the meaning of gratuity, which may apply to many jurisdictions across the world.
Gratuity is a sum of money paid to an employee at the end of a period of employment.
According to Business Standard, it is a part of the salary that is received by an employee from his/her employer in gratitude for the services offered to the company.
Gratuity is a defined benefit plan and is one of the many retirement benefits offered by the employer to the employee upon leaving his/her job.
An employee may leave his job for various reasons such as retirement, for a better job elsewhere, on being retrenched, or by way of voluntary retirement.
From where I stand, it is possible for some employers to treat this payment casually if they willfully decide to embrace the oversimplified definition of gratuity as a gift of money, payment due for service — as to a waiter or bellhop — or simply a tip.
A bellhop is a person employed by a hotel to assist guests, as by carrying luggage and doing errands.
But here, I am referring to a lump sum paid to an employee based on the duration of his/her total service.
I am aware that in a capitalist society, there are perpetual conflicts between workers and employers whose primary interest is to maximise their profits.
This is the reason why a labour expert in Ndola says it is important for workers to study the Employment Act so that they understand the provisions of the law that could help them in their situations.
John Musonda, who is the administration and programme manager for the Labour Institute of Zambia, says it is also the duty of unionists to negotiate for conditions that are more favourable than the minimum wage.
Mr Musonda says the revised Employment Act will end some harmful practices in some institutions which had held up company policies as being superior to the country’s labour laws.
For a long time, it has been easy for some employers in Zambia to offer their employees short-term renewable contracts – for as many as eight years – so that they escape from paying the rightful dues to the workers.
Similarly, it has not been surprising to see some workers who are few months away from clocking 10 years of service (the period after which they are entitled to gratuity in some institutions in Zambia) being laid off on flimsy grounds.
Mr Musonda says in view of this, it is of utmost importance for workers to know the provisions of their contracts so that they protect themselves from manipulative employers who are consumed by cost-saving tactics.
Like I have stated in some previous articles, workers should take interest in studying the labour laws so that they either do not inflate their expectations or underestimate their value in the labour and employment sector.
Through my interaction with a good number of workers, I have realised that many do not even understand their companies’ pension schemes, and only become interested in such after leaving employment when they require that “last coin” to subsist on.
In some jurisdictions, gratuity is an important form of social security and is in the form of gratitude provided by the employer to the employees in monetary terms for the services rendered to the organisation.
It is a defined benefit plan and is one of the many retirement benefits offered by the employer to the employee upon leaving his/her job.
Gratuity payment liability of the employer tends to rise with an increase in the salary and tenure of employment.
According to Helpline Law, an employee is any person (other than an apprentice) employed on wages, in any establishment, factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company or shop, to do any skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work.
This is whether the terms of such employment are expressed or implied, and whether or not such a person is employed in a managerial or administrative capacity.
However, this does not include any such person who holds a post under the Central Government and is governed by any other Act or by any rules providing for payment of gratuity.
In the case of death of the employee, gratuity payable to him shall be paid to his nominee or, if no nomination has been made, to his heirs.
Where any such nominees or heirs is a minor, the share of such a minor shall be deposited with the controlling authority who would invest the same for the benefit of such a minor in a bank or financial institution, as may be prescribed, until such a minor attains majority.
Family in relation to an employee shall be deemed to consist of, in the case of a male employee, himself, his wife, his children, whether married or unmarried, his dependent parents, the dependent parents of his wife and the widow and children of his predeceased son, if any.
I will be interested in getting interpretations of the Zambian Constitution on these important issues from legal experts.
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I am in receipt of a letter from an employee in a foreign non-governmental organisation in Lusaka who has complained that workers are not allowed to rest during Zambia’s gazetted holidays.
Dear reader, you will allow me to share some notes on overtime and public holidays in next week’s write-up.
For now, let us keep the link open as we share issues on labour and employment.
For comments or questions, email: niza12001@yahoo.com/izukanji.simengwa@gmail.com