Africa-Press – Eswatini. The decision by government to pay hospital orderlies lower than those at psychiatric hospitals has opened a can of worms.
Hospital orderlies (auxiliary staff) are all unskilled support staff of hospitals and clinics. Orderlies are the non-professional support staff that assist inside hospital wards, outpatient department, and even inside the operations theatres. Government is now being accused of practising discrimination inasfar as the pay between the orderlies is concerned.
The auxiliary staff is usually deployed at various government hospitals in the country in different categories, which include seamstresses, switchboard operators and laundress, Others are house maids, night watchmen, dish washer, cook and senior cook, labourers, groundsman, darkroom assistant, scullion, handymen and senior orderlies.
The argument is that orderlies are paid at a higher grade than all the auxiliary staff members, being grade A4, whereas orderlies are paid at the grade of A2.
It has been established that salary grade A2 has the gross monthly salary of E3 895, while salary Grade A4 has the gross monthly salary of approximately E6 200. The auxiliary staff members feel that the differentiation in pay is discriminatory, as the job done is similar and of equal value to the employer. The auxiliary staff members are convinced that the intention behind the payment of the auxiliaries and the hospital orderlies on different salary scales was to discriminate among them, something they argue is contrary to Section 29 of the Employment Act of 1980.
Grade
“The discrimination in pay between the orderlies and the auxiliary has been happening from the date of employment of each of the members of the categories. However, the hospital orderlies have been paid on grade A4 since the 1st April 2014 and we humbly ask that the auxiliary staff payment be paid from the same date as the government hospital orderlies.
“With regard to the senior positions mentioned above, they suffer grave injustice, as they are paid lower than the orderlies and are paid at grade A3 yet the people who they should be supervising are paid at grade A4. The gross salary for grade A3 is approximately E5 358.25 and the difference with orderlies is approximately E1 000. These should be paid higher than orderlies and a higher like grade A4 or higher as the nature of their job is senior and supervisory to that of hospital orderlies and the others.”
“These officers have been employed on different dates and they all have their distinct duties and functions, which are mentioned on paper. However, in actual practice, these officers have been doing the same job that is normally done by hospital orderlies. Hospital orderlies are the non-professional support staff who assist inside hospital wards, outpatient department, and even inside the operation theatres.
“The employees in all the categories mentioned perform the duties and functions of hospital orderlies to varying degrees and are given these tasks differently at different hospitals and clinics. It is a fact that the employer himself treats the above 10 categories, as interchangeably non-professional staff and they choose and allocate the duties as they deem fit.” The aggrieved orderlies have since reported government to the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC), where they want their employer to be compelled to pay them on grade A4.
Aggrieved
“The applicants are employed by the first respondent under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The applicants are aggrieved that the first respondent remunerates them at grade A2, whereas their counterparts at the psychiatric hospitals are remunerated at grade A4. The applicants are of the view that the duties they conduct are similar to those of the orderlies at the psychiatric hospital, hence they view the action of the respondents as being discriminatory,” reads the application by the orderlies.
One of the witnesses in this matter, who was employed by the health ministry in June 1999, as a hospital orderly, testified that she was initially paid under Grade II, but was aggrieved by the payment under this grade due to the fact that she was rotated through many different departments within the hospital.
She submitted that these departments were not under her cadre, revealing that she subsequently lodged a dispute against her employer with CMAC, and was as a result promoted to grade A4 as a mental health orderly.
She testified that the duties of a mental hospital orderly were for all intents and purposes similar to those of a hospital orderly, stating that the job description she was given when she resumed work as a mental health orderly was the same as the one she had been given when she assumed the position of hospital orderly at Mbabane Government Hospital.
She stated that the work at the psychiatric hospital was similar to the work she did as an orderly at Mbabane Government Hospital, the only difference being that the patients were more violent. She submitted that the main duties of an orderly at the general hospitals and clinics were to clean, bath and feed patients and at the psychiatric hospital, it was to clean, bath and feed and also sedate violent patients.
She further alleged that at the mental hospital, there are orderlies who are paid on Grade A2, and as such, they did not understand the rationale for this. She said as a result, they had requested an official from the Ministry of Public Service to explain to them the difference between the grades. The matter is still ongoing at CMAC.
In making her ruling, CMAC Arbitrator Khanyisile Msibi stated that she would be guided by the manner in which nurses are paid, stating that she was inclined to the fact that nurses were paid as professional staff because they possessed a relevant tertiary qualification, hence they are paid based on qualification and seniority.
“What is, however, of paramount importance is that if the argument raised by the respondents of the risk factor was to be taken into account, the question would be why are nurses at the mental hospital not paid more, because they are also subject to the physical risks. Do the respondents only mean that the risk factor comes into play only when orderlies are concerned?
Duties
“The respondent went on to painstaking lengths to show that the duties carried on by these two categories are not the same. Accordingly, the duties carried out by nurses in the mental hospitals are not similar to those carried out by nurses elsewhere. I am thus inclined to state that orderlies are employed in the same designation and performing the same job, thereby rendering it unfair for the respondents to make disparate payments to them.”
Msibi said the justification that the mental orderlies were paid more because they are trained was a misconception, pointing out that the witness for the respondents testified that they undergo a one-day workshop. She said, in her view, such a workshop did not amount to training, adding that: “it appears to be more of an induction on the job and, hence would not justify such payments.”
Msibi stressed the employers are mandated to train their employees, hence it becomes unfair when one group is trained in order to justify or warrant such pay. She said, in her view all the orderlies possessed the same skill or expertise. In her ruling, Msibi directed government to upgrade the positions of all orderlies in the country to Grade A4. She said this upgrade is to be implemented as from the April 1, 2014, to enable government to sufficiently include the same in its budget.
“The respondents are directed to firstly consider internal advertising all auxiliary positions. This is to be implemented with immediate effect. The respondents can only recruit externally if not suitable position is identified within the cadre.” However, despite this ruling, which was taken on September 26, 2013, the upgrade has not been effected by government, 13 years later.
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