ESWATINI EMBASSY ACCUSED OF ILL- TREATING STAFF

MBABANE – Legal action related to labour malpractice has been taken by some employees against the Eswatini High Commission in the United Kingdom.

The workers include a woman, who is currently on maternity leave, and two male drivers whose services were recently terminated. All three have individually served the office headed by High Commissioner Christian Nkambule with letters from their attorneys.

The letters came after the employees personally wrote to the high commissioner, complaining about the treatment they were subjected to, which they alleged was not in conformity with both the UK labour laws and their contracts of employment. The complaints were mainly on excessive working hours, insufficient notice where there were slight changes in their work routine and maternity leave. The secretary, who is on maternity leave, confirmed that she had an issue where she felt the mission was in breach of the country’s labour laws.

The officer has worked for the Mission for 16 years and has served under four High Commissioners. “I have since engaged my lawyer and he is handling the matter. I need to get a green light from him to continue with the interview,” she said.

The officer said she had been on maternity leave for a year now. Information gathered by this publication is that when she started encountering problems, she topped up her maternity leave with her annual leave.

In an interview with this newspaper on Thursday, one of the dismissed drivers, Stephen Burrell, said before his dismissal, he had written to the high commission complaining that he was made to drive even when he was exhausted after working for long hours.

Safe

“I pointed out that this was not at all safe for His Majesty the King’s children whom I used to drive around. The road I used to drive along when going to Buckwood, Millfield and Sherborn, has a record of about 5 000 fatal accidents, which have been attributed to tiredness,” he said.

Eswatini News is in possession of a letter written by the Mission informing Burrell that officers would, from time to time, be required to work outside of normal office hours.

Burrell, who had worked for the mission for a year, alleged that he would be made to drive for up to 20 hours per day, way in excess of the expected 16 hours. He said after working for long hours the previous day, he would still be expected to be on the road chauffeuring children without having enough rest.

He said when he was served with a letter of termination of employment last week, he noted that the reasons stated there were hilarious, something that compelled him to instruct an attorney to take up the matter. The letter written by the embassy on February 26, 2020 states that, “Pursuant to the probation midterm review, and subsequent correspondences you are hereby informed that the mission has come to a decision to terminate your employment, effective 30th March 2020.”

insufficient

The letter accused Burrell of insufficient improvement in his conduct and performance, further stating that the overall feedback was that he was inadequately equipped to work for the mission.

Burrell’s other argument is that since he was employed by the Mission on February 4, 2019 and subjected to two probation periods spanning over six months each, he was supposed to have been notified of the termination on February 4, 2020 when he made exactly 12 months in employment.

He said since he had already worked past the 12-month period, he automatically qualified for the 13th payment as the letter of termination of employment was only written on February 26.

In the Contract of Employment signed by both the High Commissioner and Burrell on February 4, 2019, it is stated that: “Your employment with the High Commission shall continue, subject to the remaining terms of this agreement, until it terminates automatically on February 4, 2022 without the need for notice from wither party.”

It further states that the first six months shall be a probationary period and that the high commission may, at its discretion, extend the probationary period for a further six months.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Joel Nhleko said only the high commissioner was rightly positioned to comment on the matter. The high commissioner, when contacted, said as far as he was concerned, the mission was in compliance with the UK labour laws.

He confirmed that both Burrell and the woman currently on maternity leave had raised concerns on treatment at work. “Burrell had his services terminated because of reasons explained to him. He failed to perform up to the Mission’s expectations, so we did not confirm him.”

When asked whether Burrell’s term of 12 months ended at the beginning or end of February, Nkambule said: “We normally consider calendar months and we do not look into the dates.”

He said arguing that notifying Burrell about termination of his services three weeks after the lapse of 12 months was not wrong. He said when the drivers were employed, it was always explained to them that they would be expected to work awkward hours. “Some of the duties are of an emergency nature and these drivers are paid overtime allowance,” he said.

The high commissioner said the female employee had presented a lot of demands. “She was on maternity leave for 12 months, as provided for by the UK labour laws. However, she was due to return to work at the beginning of this month, but she filed for yet another month citing certain problems related to nursing,” he said.

When asked to classify the type of leave that the woman was now on, Nkambule said it was presumably annual leave.

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