The High Court ruled that workers who lost jobs following a Supreme Court ruling which allowed workers to terminate employment contracts on three months notice will not get anything. This comes after Government relieved workers by amending the labour act to provide for companies to pay workers retrenchment packages in retrospect.

Zimind Publishers (Pvt) Ltd which fired 75 workers on August 20, 2015 following the July 17 Supreme Court ruling, approached the High Court challenging the constitutionality of Section 18 of the Labour Amendment Act Number 5 of 2015. The publishing firm wanted the court to strike down the section which had the effect of declaring all terminations that occurred after the Zuva ruling illegal unless a minimum retrenchment package was paid by the employer.

In a landmark ruling yesterday High Court Judge Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo ruled that Section 18 of the Labour Amendment Act Number 5 of 2015 takes away the employer’s vested rights to terminate worker’s contracts on notice making it unconstitutional in a democratic society.  She also said that the section was inconsistent with sections 3(2)(k), 56(1) and 82 of the Constitution. The matter will now be referred to the Constitutional Court for determination in terms of section 167(3) of the Constitution. READ MORE