What are the fundamental rights under the law?
There are fundamental rights espoused in the Employment Labour Relations Act
- ELRA prohibits Child labour of children under the age of 14 and regulates the employment of Children aged fourteen and above (Section 5, ELRA)
- ELRA prohibits Forced Labour (Section 6, ELRA)
- ELRA prohibits all forms of Discrimination and obligates employers to promote equal opportunity in employment. Section 7 (4) lists down a non-exhaustive list of grounds that discrimination is prohibited including:
(a) Colour
(b) Nationality
(c) Tribe or place of origin
(d) Race
(e) National extraction
(f) Social origin
(g) Political opinion or religion
(h) Sex
(i) Gender
(j) Pregnancy
(k) Marital status or family responsibility
(l) Disability
(m) HIV/AIDS
(n) Age; or
(o) Station of life (Section 7 ELRA) - ELRA promotes the Freedom of Association for employers and employees. (Section 9, ELRA)
What are the rights of an employee?
The law compels an employer to display a statement of the employee’s rights in a conspicuous place at the workplace (Section 15(7), ELRA). The format of these rights is stated in Regulation 12 of GN. 47 The Employment and Labour Relations (General) Regulations, 2017 and appears as below:
PART I: RIGHTS UNDER THE ACT
1. Right to exercise freedom of association
2. Right to be supplied with the Contract of Service/Statement of Particulars
3. Right to annual leave
4. Right to maternity/paternity/sick leave
5. Right to certificate of service on termination
6. Right to remuneration and a written statement of particulars supporting each payment of remuneration
7. Right to payment for the overtime worked and night work allowance
8. Right to daily and weekly rest periods as provided for in the Act
9. Right to be repatriated to place of recruitment on termination
10. Right to daily subsistence allowance between the termination date and the date of transporting an employee and family to the place of recruitment
11. Any other rights as provided for under the Act
PART II: GENERAL RIGHTS UNDER CONTACT OF SERVICE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
PART III: GENERAL RIGHTS UNDER COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....
Name: ......................................................... Signature: ..................................... Designation: ................................................ Date: …….....................................
Employer’s Common Seal: ………………………………………………