Chinhoyi Municipality has resolved to reinstate 13 former employees who were once transferred to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).
The latest council resolution brings to an end a long-drawn legal wrangle between the council and the workers who had sued the local authority for $1 million in damages.
Council human resources manager Alistar Charuma told a recent finance and human resources committee the local authority had three options it could pursue, which were reinstatement, payment of severance packages or refer the matter back for arbitration if parties failed to agree on the perks.
The workers were claiming a total of $1 582 953 in damages.
Council, which is mulling a massive retrenchment of workers, resolved to re-engage the ex-Zinwa workers.
Council resolved to reinstate the workers who had been seconded to Zinwa, but the difficulty is how to handle those who were not in council employ before the ministerial directive, said Councillor Divies Zinduru, finance and human resources committee chairman.
The decision to re-employ the ex-Zinwa workers was reached after considering how other councils in similar situations such as Gweru and Mutare had handled the labour issues.
Councillors and management also concurred it was easier to reinstate the workers than to go for quantification of claims as the award could be punitive against the employer.
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According to council, the workers would be incorporated into the municipalitys security department.
