#CoronavirusSA: What does the virus mean for employed people? 16 March 2020

On Sunday evening President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the coronavirus as a national disaster. Ramaphosa also announced that 61 people are infected with the virus as of Sunday evening. This includes the country’s first cases of local transmission.  The declaration of the coronavirus as a national disaster came with conditions such as the implementation of travel bans of people from high-risk countries such as Italy, Iran and the United States. The president also announced that mass gatherings over 100 people are prohibited.

It is the job of employers to ensure that any risk on workers’ lives must be reduced, says labour law specialist Natasha Moni. “Employers have to ensure that employees have a safe environment to work in. And employers have to mitigate the employees’ risk right upfront, and initially first, before they take greater action. They have a duty to inform each employee of the risk of catching coronavirus.” Moni says that people who contract the virus will have to use their paid sick leave days to recover, or to be in self-isolation.  “You have six weeks for every three-year cycle. And you can’t accrue it. But it starts from the very first year of the fourth month in the first year,” she says.