Court says Tribunal ruling was ‘correct’

THE High Court in Lautoka has ruled the Employment Relations Tribunal was correct in not awarding wages and salaries to workers at a garment factory that was locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Union of Workers had taken Danam (Fiji) Pte Ltd to the tribunal, claiming its members at the company should have been paid between March 20, 2020 to April 6 the same year.

The tribunal on October 8, 2021 dismissed the union’s application, which filed an appeal in the High Court.

“The fact that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic during the time material, it was an ‘Act of God’, it had adverse effects in Fiji as well, and it crippled all non-essential activities and movements throughout the country, including the greater Lautoka,” said Justice Mohamed Mackie in his February 26 ruling.

“It is also to be noted that nowhere in the Employment Relations Act or in its amendments or in the collective agreement entered into between the employer and the member employees, is a definition given as to what is an ‘Act of God’.

“What has been introduced by the amendment to section 24 of the ERA is the inclusion of a pandemic, which was declared as an ‘Act of God’ by the World Health Organization. An Act of God is neither predictable nor preventable and no one can say for sure as to how and in what form it will befall and what would be the extent of devastation and/or annihilation it could possibly cause.

“Any subsequent decisions and/ or measures taken by the Government and/or respective authorities during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to face the calamity were also instant and the respondent employer could not have had any role to play in taking such decisions and implementation of them.”