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The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is going to have its hands full with vaccine mandate cases.

Thus far, it’s very much a case of siding with employers and against employees who present flimsy arguments.

Last week, the CCMA found in favour of Goldrush Group’s decision to sack Theresa Mulderiji after the business had put a vaccine mandate in place.

Another CCMA ruling this week once again found that “suspending an employee for refusing to be vaccinated was fair and in line with the Occupational Health and Safety Act”.

GroundUp has more:

Commissioner Petrus Venter ruled that the Act compelled employers to provide safe workplaces, and the requirement to vaccinate was in the interests of the health and safety of all employees.

Gideon Kok, a security officer at Ndaka Security Services, which provides security for Sasol Ltd in Sasolburg, was suspended after he refused to be vaccinated on religious grounds.

Kok was told he could undergo weekly testing in place of getting the jab, which he did for a short while until he refused because he was paying for the tests himself.

He also argued that getting vaccinated went against his devout Christian beliefs.

Ndaka had previously identified Kok as an employee that needed to be vaccinated, based on COVID-19 risk assessments carried out in line with directives by the Minister of Employment and Labour.

For good reason, too:

This was because he shared an office on site at Sasol with ten other employees and worked in close contact with others.

Kok had previously contracted Covid and contact tracing revealed that it was highly probable that several colleagues had been infected by him. The entire office had to be closed and employees had to self-isolate.

After getting COVID-19, Kok said that he took medication. However, he only began to recover “when he started to rely on his body’s natural immunity and his faith”.

Kok, who is now suspended, isn’t able to work from home and his job entails interacting with numerous parties including clients and the public.

Commissioner Venter handed down the ruling:

The commissioner said the vaccination had shown a demonstrable success in limiting severe illness and transmission, and Kok had not been able to present any evidence to the contrary…

“The company and Sasol do not require vaccination to protect only him…the aim is to ensure a safe working environment for everyone.”

Yup.

Commissioner Venter said all due process had been followed by Ndaka and the Occupational Health and Safety Act “determines that every employee at work must cooperate with an employer to obey health and safety rules”.

Clearly, that argument about the Nuremberg Code or something else you came across on social media isn’t going to work.

[source:groundup]