Show compassion on employee leave

The American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham TT) is calling on companies to show compassion when addressing the thorny issue of employee leave, once covid19 restrictions are lifted.

The chamber, through its webinar “Navigating HR & IR Issues During the Pandemic,” said there must be balance in an employer’s legal obligations on employee leave, engagement with unions and work-from-home policies.

Chamber CEO Nirad Tewarie said, “It’s important that companies employ compassionate solutions that will help them to effectively engage with their employees so their concerns are addressed while maintaining business continuity during these uncertain times.”

Partner at M Hamel Smith & Co Catherine Ramnarine noted that the pandemic brought many new challenges to employers and for human resource management.

She said TT laws are limited in dealing with employee relations and said employers should check employment contracts, policies, and collective agreements.

Ramnarine said, “In the current situation, good industrial relations practice may require employers to apply those provisions more flexibly, reasonably and compassionately than they would during normal business operations.

“Much of our employment requirements are determined not by legislation or regulation, but by principles of good industrial relations practice. These principles are not codified, but instead must be gleaned from decisions of our Industrial Court.”

In light of the pandemic, she said pandemic leave was introduced to facilitate working parents and people with other circumstances.

Ramnarine said employers are not obligated to provide this provision as it is not accommodated for in the usual industrial relations practice.

She said, “Employers do still have a general obligation to treat with requests for leave flexibly, reasonably and compassionately, while balancing the operational, business and financial challenges of the current situation.

“It is likely to be considered a breach of good industrial relations practice to penalise employees by non-payment of salary, at least in the short term, if an employee is mandated or recommended by health officials to stay away from work.”

She added that before any measures are taken that can negatively disrupt employer/employee relations, such as salary cuts or no-pay leave, consultation is critical.

Massy Technologies InfoCom CEO Ian John  said changes in the operational function of businesses brought about by covid19 have shown that emphasis should be placed on managing productivity, rather than time.

“Companies must ensure that employees who are working from home are provided with the required IT infrastructure, HSE regulations, documented policies and processes and clear expectations of what is required of them during this situation.”