Adjusted Level 3 Regulations were gazetted on 29 December 2020 and contain further restrictions and stricter penalties for non-compliance with a view to curbing the spread of the virus while retaining a functioning economy as far as possible. Many individuals as well as businesses were caught off-guard.
According to Thobile Lamati, Director-General of the Department of Employment and Labour, most of the industries, in the first lockdown period, did develop plans and it may be that those plans need to be updated with the adjusted regulations. He said that industries and businesses had just as much responsibility to their clients and suppliers as it did to their employees to ensure that they are safe.
Lamati told BusinessTech that with the current level 3 adjusted lockdown that is in operation, businesses are generally allowed to operate on condition that:
- Relevant health protocols and social distancing measures for persons employed in private residences must are adhered to;
- Relevant health protocols and social distancing measures set out in directions must be adhered to, in addition to the occupational health and safety directions issued by the department and applicable labour legislation;
- Firms must adhere to any sector-specific health protocols intended to limit the spread of Covid-19 in the sector concerned;
- Sector-specific health protocols may address matters such as work rotation, staggered working hours, shift systems, remote working arrangements, special measures affecting persons with greater vulnerabilities or similar measures, in order to achieve social distancing, protect employees or limit congestion in public transport and at the workplace;
- Sector-specific health protocols implemented or be developed and issued in consultation with health department.
Law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, recently published an employer’s guide to adjusted level 3 regulations. The purpose of this guide is to assist employers in complying with their obligations in terms of the adjusted Level 3 Regulations, including advice in relation to considerations pertaining to the recommencement of work in 2021.
Click here to download the guide.
Click here to read the BusinessTech article.
