Industrial Court stops MoH from Employing Retired Nurses

Union argued advert contravened Public Service Act Union and MoH ordered to engage in terms of their collective labour agreement The Industrial Court in Gaborone on Wednesday ordered the Ministry of Health (MoH) to withdraw an advertisement specifically targeting retired nurses for employment. The court also ordered the Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) and MoH to engage each other in terms of their collective labour agreement in a dispute arising from nursing vacancies that were advertised by the ministry. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="3" ] The dispute between the two parties reached the Industrial Court on Monday when the union filed an urgent application for the reviewing and setting aside of a decision by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health to advertise 12 vacancies of Principal Nursing Officer I-D2 (temporary) on or about 26 April 2023. The parties were also ordered to engage each another in terms of their collective labour agreement. The application of the union was also withdrawn with no order made as to costs. According to a statement that BONU had written to its structures, the union was challenging the advertisement based on a number of grounds. The advert had invited nurses/midwives with a minimum 15 years post-qualification experience and preferably those who are retired. The union thus felt preference for retired nurses is a breach of Section 17 of the Public Service Act (PSA), which provides for criteria for appointment to the public service. “The advertisement was not published in the Government Gazette as required by Section 17 of the PSA,” the union said. “The preference of retired nurses falls foul of the requirement in Regulation 7 of the PSA that proven merit and suitability (not retirement) be given greater weight.” BONU argued that there was no evidence that the vacancies could not be filled by serving officers as required by General Order 8.6. Of the 12 vacancies advertised, five were tenable at Princess Marina Hospital and Nyangabwe Referral Hospital. Benefits included severance pay and baggage allowance payable at the end of the temporary employment. Other benefits were a 30 percent nurses’ overtime allowance and a 10 percent post-basic allowance. [/ihc-hide-content]

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Industrial Court stops MoH from Employing Retired Nurses

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