BL Premium reports that Business Unity SA (Busa) has shelved its planned application to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) for a directive on Covid-19 vaccine mandates in workplaces.

It has cited the government’s planned health and workplace regulations, which will kick in when the state of disaster ends, as sufficient for the implementation of a mandate. Legal advice that Busa has received suggests there is no need to approach SA’s apex court given that some companies have already implemented the practice and lower courts have upheld the rights of the employer. “We are satisfied that a vaccine mandate is in the public good. We think government’s planned health and workplace regulations will be sufficient in defence of the rights of the employer,” Busa CEO Cas Coovadia indicated. He added that Busa would “support” employers in any challenge to the practice launched by employees. The Labour Court and the CCMA have upheld the decisions of several employers to either suspend or dismiss employees who refused to get vaccinated or to take weekly tests. Employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi this week published new rules for managing Covid-19 in the workplace. The rules, which will come into effect when the national state of disaster is lifted, include reaffirming employers’ rights to introduce vaccine mandates and tightening the grounds on which employees may refuse to get jabbed.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Hajra Omarjee at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page