Business Insider SA writes that SA’s last Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, with the requirement to wear a mask in public buildings and restrictions on gatherings gone. But in terms of republished rules, any employees with reason to fear they may be infected with SARS-CoV-2 still have the right to refuse to work, and may face no repercussions for doing so.

On Friday, Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) Minister Thulas Nxesi republished a set of workplace rules first issued in February, which impose a range of special requirements on businesses when it comes to safeguarding their workers from the coronavirus. Perhaps most notable in those regulations, after the end of the general mask mandate, is the protection of the right to refuse to work. "Any employee may refuse to perform any work if circumstances arise which, with reasonable justification, appear to that employee or to a health and safety representative to pose an imminent and serious risk of their exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection," one rule reads. Workers can down tools and inform their employer of the reason why after the fact. Employees may not be promised any benefit for not using their right to refuse to work, and may not "be dismissed, disciplined, prejudiced or harassed" for refusing to work. The regulations, formally known as the "Code of Good Practice: Managing Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in the Workplace", require employers to create a risk assessment plan. That plan can require certain types of employees to be vaccinated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Phillip de Wet at Business Insider SA

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