DISPUTE AFTER CARSON WHEELS RETRENCHES 20

MANZINI - Renowned car dealership, Carson Wheels, has retrenched approximately 20 of its employees and the two parties disagree on terminal benefits calculations.

The workers last reported for work on October 30, 2021, and this was after the company served them with a letter which notified them that their positions had become redundant. The letter is dated October 29, 2021, and it was titled; Notice of redundancy of their position in terms of Section 40 of the Employment Act. In the letter, the company said the decision followed consultations which it made with the staff members who were affected by the decline of the establishment’s business, on options to mitigate the impact of retrenchment, minimise the number of redundancies, change the timing of the termination date, avert the adverse effects of the redundancies, implement a fair selection criteria and ensure appropriate payment of terminal benefits.

Contributions

It thanked them for their contributions during the difficult consultations. It said it was, therefore, highly regrettable that the only option open to the company at the moment was termination of several positions, on grounds of redundancy caused by business decline. Thereafter, the company said as discussed, their last day of employment would be October 30, 2021. On another note, the company appreciated the service which was rendered by the former workers. It also notified them that payment of their retrenchment packages would be done after further consultations with them upon receipt of the relevant tax directive from Eswatini Revenue Services (ERS). In the letter, it also showed them the calculations of their terminal benefits which it had done.

However, on November 17, 2021, the company wrote another letter to the workers where it corrected the calculations of their terminal benefits. In that letter, the company said it confirmed that the office of the labour commissioner had brought it to its attention that there had been an error in the calculation of their terminal benefits.

Appreciated

“The correction is appreciated and the error is unconditionally regretted,” the company said. Thereafter, it said the error had been due to application of a wrong formula to their additional notice. However, the former workers of the renowned car dealership said they were not satisfied even with the new calculations of their terminal benefits. As a result, some went to the company offices in Moneni yesterday, where they demanded to meet management over the matter.

They said it was agreed that the labour commissioner’s office, which was under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, would meet both parties this morning where their concerns would be discussed and addressed. One of the senior staff members confirmed that as management, they met with the former workers yesterday and said they agreed what they would do to address their concerns. However, the staff member said she was not allowed to speak to the media on behalf of the company and referred this publication to the dealer principal.

On the other hand, efforts of getting a comment from Carson Wheels Dealer Principal Mbono Motsa, who signed the aforementioned letters, proved futile as when he was called, he said he would return the call. However, when he was called later on yesterday, his mobile number was not available on the MTN Eswatini network.

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