Q&A – 16 May 2016
Hazardous work for pregnant woman
I am a technician in a company where I have been working for about four years now. Although the foreman knows that I am presently expecting and my due date is in the next two months, he has been assigning very hard jobs to me where I have to stand for long hours. I know he is intentionally doing this as my sister had turned down his proposal to marry him. Is there anything I can do to address this?
CM, DSM
We wish to point out that the Employment and Labour Relations provides clearly that no employer shall require or permit a pregnant employee or an employee who is nursing a child to perform work that is hazardous to her health or the health of her child.
The test above is subjective and depends on what exact job is assigned to you. All in all, if the assignments given to you are hazardous to your pregnancy then that is against the law and the foreman needs to desist from such behavior.
As a matter of creating a good atmosphere at work place and preventing abuse of powers, you may report this to your superior otherwise the matter is actionable under the law above.
On a different note if you expect to deliver in one month we wonder why you are still at work. The same law has given you an option of commencing your maternity leave any time from four weeks before the expected date. You may hence also ask your employer to start maternity leave. Your lawyers can guide you further.
Husband with beard, two earings
I married a man whom I dated for more than ten years. We married last year and suddenly he decided to grow a beard and wears two earings, which is unattractive and displeases me. Initially I thought this was a joke but it is now clear that it is him with his beard or a divorce. This is shocking but it is the plain truth. I have now come to terms with it and what to get on. My lawyer says getting a divorce at this stage and on such grounds is not possible. However this is the same lawyer who my husband has been using and might be conflicted. Can this lawyer’s guidance be true? Kindly guide me.
EP, Moshi
The Law of Marriage act of Tanzania is indeed outdated and does not provide for consensual divorce. The law provides that there must be reasons inter alia adultery, sexual pervertness to mention a few that are valid grounds for divorce. Looks or rather change in looks, as is the case here, is not a solid ground for divorce and may not hold under our laws.
Moreover, since you are only married for less than two years, unless you can prove exceptional hardship, our law disallows divorce within that period. There is a kind of cooling off period which is, in todays era, perhaps quite outdated.
There are initiatives of changing our marriage law but for now the above holds true. We suggest you meet a marriage counselor who might be able to talk the two of you through this. We wish you all the best.
Foreign national thumbprint
I am a foreigner in Tanzania wishing to apply for a bank account. I went to a bank and was shocked to hear that they required my thumb print? Is that normal? How do we I go about this?
PI, Dar
Rule 5(1) of the Anti Money Laundering Regulations of 2012 clearly state that a reporting person such as a bank shall obtain from, or in respect of, an individual who is a citizen of another country and is not resident in the United Republic, that person’s- (a) full names and residential address; (b) date and place of birth; (c) nationality; (d) passport; (e) visa; (f) Tax Identification Number, if such number has been issued to that person; (g) any or all of, telephone number, postal and email address; and (h) signature and thumb print.
These regulations further state
Sub rule (2) further states that in case a reporting person is aware or ought reasonably to be aware that the person referred to in sub-regulation (1) does not have the legal capacity to establish a business relationship or conclude a single transaction without the assistance of another person, the reporting person shall, in addition to obtaining the particulars referred to in sub regulation (1), obtain from the person rendering assistance- (a) full names and residential address; (b) date and place of birth; (c) nationality; (d) passport; (e) Visa; (f) Tax Identification Number, if such number has been issued to that person; (g) signature and thumb print; and (h) any or all of, telephone number, postal and email address.
From the above you can tell that the bank is required to take your finger print before opening your account.
Poor customer care by mobile company
I am a subscriber to a mobile company in Tanzania whose customer care system is very poor. I have to call customer care repeatedly and am put on hold for ages. Sometimes it takes ten calls to get through- the standard message is “all our customer representatives are presently busy, stay online and you will be attended by the next available representative.” It takes sometimes upto 30 minutes before I get attended to. In between the call, the customer care rep also hangs up and I start all over again. Do I have any rights and how do I defend myself against this mobile company. They are bullying me.
TK, Mwanza
Your bullying can be intervened by the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority which is the institution responsible for managing all mobile companies in Tanzania. The Electronic and Postal Communications (Quality of Service) Regulations, 2011 provide that, the average waiting time before a customer is attended by a call centre operator should be less than five minutes.
Hence you may lodge a complaint to the mobile company explicitly stating your complaint and the mobile company is required to reply to your complaint within 21 days from the receipt of the complaint. If you are unsatisfied with their reply, you may proceed to lodge the complaint to TCRA.