The Chief Executive Officer of Gamey and Gamey Group, Austin Gamey has urged HR practitioners to uphold the country’s Labour Act by ensuring its effective implementation.
Mr. Gamey, an experienced labour expert is of the conviction that if HR practitioners acquainted themselves with the Labour Act 2003, Act 651, and effectively implement the provisions, most of the frictions between managements and workers, could be prevented to ensure peaceful working environment and enhanced productivity.
Speaking during a training workshop facilitated by Gamey and Gamey Group for the Human Capital Management team of Consolidated Bank, Ghana (CBG) in Accra on the theme: Weaving Labour Act 2003, Act 651 into the fabric of Human Capital Management (HCM), Mr Gamey described the Labour Act as one of the best law for the country.
“If we act and practice the law, we should not be having all these challenges in the labour front,” he said, adding that the Act provides clear provisions on the duties, obligations and responsibilities of both management and workers.
According to him, Act 651 should be viewed as a law that has a direct effect on working relations, productivity, discipline, growth and income.
Citing Section 62 of the Labour Act, Mr. Gamey, bemoaned the increasing failure by Human Resource practitioners in applying the provisions that deal with non-performing employees and employment termination.
“You cannot just fire someone for incompetence. First you have to prove the level of incompetence, and the law requires that you put the affected worker under training and retraining to improve his or her skills.
Mr Gamey urged HR Management training institutions to pursue a paradigm shift in their training programmes to focus on more practical skills development and knowledge about the laws
Section 62 which deals with Fair termination stipulates that “A termination of a worker’s employment is fair if the contract of employment is terminated by the employer on any of the following grounds (a) that the worker is incompetent or lacks the qualification in relation to the work for which the worker is employed; (b) the proven misconduct of the worker; (c) redundancy under section 65.”
Section 63 (2h) stated that a worker’s employment is terminated unfairly if the only reason for the termination is that the worker does not possess the current level of qualification required in ,relation to the work for which the worker was employed which is different from the level of qualification required at the commencement of his or her employment.
Benjamin Nana Appiah/www.adrdaily.com
