CAAZ to pay US$200 000 salary arrears

The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) is battling to pay over US$200 000 in salary arrears and allowances to 10 of its workers who dragged it to court over unfair labour practice.

In September last year, the Labour Court ordered the parastatal to pay the 10 workers various amounts after it lost a case in which the workers were confirmed for positions in which they had been acting.

In 2014, the 10 took CAAZ to court challenging its refusal to appoint them in substantive capacities after they had acted beyond the maximum period of six months.

According to the law, the workers were supposed to be confirmed for positions they had worked in acting capacities after six months.

However, after the Labour Court ruled in favour of the 10, a dispute arose as to how much each of them was owed by the authority in salary and unpaid allowances from the time they were supposed to have been confirmed.

This resulted in the 10 approaching the Labour Court for quantification of the salary arrears and allowances.

Justice Fatima Maxwell ruled that the 10 workers should be given amounts ranging from US$2 700 and US$120 000 resulting in a total bill of US$212 000, plus interest from October 2014, as well as the cost of the lawsuit.

The workers’ lawyer, Tichaona Marume of Matsikidze and Mucheche, said his clients were still waiting to receive the payment. He said CAAZ, which accepted Justice Maxwell’s ruling, was negotiating terms for payment of the judgment debt.

“They (CAAZ) have accepted the ruling and no appeal has been lodged. We have registered the award with the High Court,” Marume said in an interview.

“We had a meeting towards the end of last year and they undertook to pay… they were negotiating payment terms and also calculating the interest on the amounts that were awarded, so the workers are waiting for the payment to be made.” Financial Gazette