Legally Speaking: Revisiting WFH rules
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As South Africa enters into the third year of its Covid pandemic, businesses are grappling with continued remote working rules.
A growing concern is whether employees are in fact working their required hours, or if they may instead be abusing time for personal matters or even second jobs.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many businesses and disrupted traditional work arrangements. However, as much as businesses have had to comply with Covid-19 regulations, your employees are still responsible for providing their services to their employer, subject of course to restraints that Covid-19 regulations impose,” say legal experts at Wright Rose-Innes.
From an employer’s perspective, it is the employer’s responsibility and right to put in place reasonable work requirements for staff working from home and to expect its employees to adhere to the agreed working hours and standards of work, the firm said.
“In cases where employees are adequately empowered to work from home and are capable of meeting the standard of work that’s required, employees failing to do so could face the same disciplinary action as in the case of an employee at the office who doesn’t meet his/her workplace obligations.”
A growing concern is whether employees are in fact working their required hours, or if they may instead be abusing time for personal matters or even second jobs.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many businesses and disrupted traditional work arrangements. However, as much as businesses have had to comply with Covid-19 regulations, your employees are still responsible for providing their services to their employer, subject of course to restraints that Covid-19 regulations impose,” say legal experts at Wright Rose-Innes.
From an employer’s perspective, it is the employer’s responsibility and right to put in place reasonable work requirements for staff working from home and to expect its employees to adhere to the agreed working hours and standards of work, the firm said.
“In cases where employees are adequately empowered to work from home and are capable of meeting the standard of work that’s required, employees failing to do so could face the same disciplinary action as in the case of an employee at the office who doesn’t meet his/her workplace obligations.”
