The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has stepped in to help 94 workers of Young Phiroz General Dealers to collect their redundancy packages, after the two parties went separate ways due to contract change.
About three weeks ago, the workers lodged a complaint against their employer, demanding their dues for the previous contracts prior to signing the newly introduced contracts.
To protect the workers’ rights, Young Phiroz General Dealers was summoned by the Ministry and a meeting was held with its employees, and the parties were guided in reference to Section23(2) of the Employment Code Act which allows employers to seek consent from their workers, where alterations are made to a written contract to reflect the changes.
The provision allows workers to either consent or disapprove of the revised terms.
In an event that the worker does not agree to the contractual terms, Section 55(1)(c) of the Employment Code Act (ECA) states that; an employer is considered to have terminated the contract of employment for their employee by reason of redundancy, if the separation is based onthe alteration of the employee’s contract, which they have not consented to.
The workers did not accept the alterations implemented by their employer and were as a result,declared redundant.
A computation of the redundancy packages was done by the Ministry, pursuant to Section 55(3) (a) of the Employment Code Act, which totaled to K1, 128, 590.87 and Young Phiroz General Dealers committed to liquidate the amount in three installments.
The first installment amounting to K545, 274. 43 was paid on April 12, 2025.
Workers with outstanding dues below K9, 000 have been fully paid, while those with dues amounting to more than K10, 000 will be paid in two installments with the first payment being K5000, and the second payment will be made on May 12, 2025.
The workers have since expressed gratitude for the timely intervention by Government in helping them to collect their redundancy packages.
This case sets an example to employers who are in the habit of exploiting workers. As Government, we will see to it that workers receive their rightful dues as agreed upon.
The affected workers will in due course be provided with mentorship under the newly introduced‘Productivity Clinic’ by the National Productivity Development Department (NPDD) to help
them smoothly transition to new forms of livelihood.
Issued by:
(Original Copy Signed)
Mwaka Ndawa (MS)
Principal Public Relations Officer