It is the duty of the Employer to look after the safety and health of all workers in the workplace. This is an obligation in law imposed by the OHS Act and other laws in South Africa. It is not the duty of the Employee to look after the Employer. Only to respond to lawful instructions in that regard. There are different views on the payments for PCR tests and Rapid Antigen Tests by Employees. I will try to keep this simple and show you my point of view to help workers understand their rights when it comes to what you may be asked to pay for. First, we need to understand that the current Pandemic rules for travellers are set under the Disaster Management Act. It requires either a vaccination certificate or a PCR test result within 72 hours to be presented at a South African border post. Similar rules for leaving also apply. OK , that is for travellers. The costs of those tests before or on arrival are for the traveller to pay. Whether for business, family or holiday reasons. I have done this type of travel for business into other African countries. My Company paid for those tests on both sides for border crossings. If I went on holiday, I would pay for myself and my family. But that is for crossing a border, not going to my workplace. From my years in the Chemical Industry, I handled many very dangerous products. I had to be supplied with special personal protective equipment [PPE] to do those tasks safely and to protect my health. Every year I am required to go for annual medical surveillance check-ups with an Occupational Medical Practitioner [ a doctor with extra training to understand workplace risk conditions for health]. These medicals are paid for by my Employer. Some workers needed special medicals for particular work they did and sometimes more tests than I had to do. The Company paid for those tests too. Why? The tests are done in the interests of workplace occupational health and safety as part of a monitoring program. The test results are kept by the doctor who only issues a Certificate of Fitness. That means you are fit to work and there are no health issues of concern. Any medical matters discussed or detected are kept strictly confidential. Your boss does not need to know anything extra unless it would affect your work performance. Now I hear that Employers are making their employees pay for PCR or Rapid Antigen tests as part of their drive to ensure workplace health and safety. The employer bought the PPE I used, the Fire Extinguishers around the building, the First Aid kits, the Covid-19 masks for every employee, the hand sanitizers, the plastic screens, the extra cleaning and disinfection of the offices and work areas and the temperature testing device at the front door. Why all that? The Minister of Employment and Labour directed the Employer in a Regulation to do all that for Covid-19 workplace health and safety measures. So now the question of those who are not vaccinated must pay for their tests to show they are Covid-19 free needs an answer. So, your employer wants to see a medical result of a test for reasons of or in the interests of workplace health and safety? But we know that anything the Employer requires to have a healthy and safe workplace, the employer pays for that, right ? So, the proof of a negative Covid-19 test is also checking or surveillance of your health. This is for a medical reason for the Employer to show they did their duty to keep the workplace healthy and safe. So, I believe, the simple point is that the Employer pays for those tests as it is their rule. You don’t need to show a test to go shopping, walk in the park, ride a taxi or get on a train. But now the Employer says you must have a test result to come to work. What if I have am forced to pay for these tests as a condition to enter my place of work? The OHS Act section 29 says: Certain Deductions Prohibited [ not allowed]. I quote: "No employer shall in respect of anything which he is in terms of this ACT required to provide or to do in the interest of the health and safety of an employee, make any deduction from any employee's remuneration or require or permit any employee to make any payment to him or to any other person." So, making YOU pay someone else for a PCR test or a Rapid Antigen test which is in the ‘interest of health and safety of an employee’ is PROHIBITED ! Just because the Minister of Employment and Labour did not mention these medical tests, the law is clear about who pays for them. Even the Amendments to regulations from June 11 2021, Section 15 says: ‘No Deductions and the new proposed Code of Practice Section 16: says “No Deductions” again. If your employer forced you to pay for something THEY should have paid, that IS the same as a deduction from you wages, which is prohibited. Ask for the money back. An easy solution is to have Rapid Antigen Test kits at the workplace entrance. [SAPHRA approved 65 of these for use in our country] Do temperature tests. If higher that 38°C, then use a test kit. If it shows positive after 15 minutes, send the worker for more tests and isolation. If negative, it is something else and they can enter if able to work. Now we ONLY test the symptomatic workers and don’t waste money on healthy people being tested all the time. You can thank VUKA NEWS for this wake up to your rights as a worker.
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