labour laws in Sri Lanka?

[HRA]

Friends I am doing Project regarding the Labour Laws of Sri lanka.
To do that I want some Ideas and suggestions. so I think I can use your ideas also.so my friends give your ideas and suggestions and help me to do my project.
Thank you.

My qustions are as follows.

Do you think that traditional laws and systems are sufficient to protect the employees?

should we overcome the traditional labour legislations and systems?

How do we do that with out striking the balance between the protection of employees and the flexibilty sought by emplyers?

 

[senator]

I can give you a brief answer as follows. Yes, the presentlabour laws in Sri Lanka can be said to adequate. The Industrial Disputes Act, Shop and Office Employees Ordinance, Trade Unions Ordinance, Gratuities Act, Termination of Employment Act, laws relating to Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), Employees' Trust Fund (ETF)and such other similar laws are very comprehensive (wide).Try to read at least some of these Acts. I can give you more details if you PM me.

 

[HRA]

I can give you a brief answer as follows. Yes, the presentlabour laws in Sri Lanka can be said to adequate. The Industrial Disputes Act, Shop and Office Employees Ordinance, Trade Unions Ordinance, Gratuities Act, Termination of Employment Act, laws relating to Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), Employees' Trust Fund (ETF)and such other similar laws are very comprehensive (wide).Try to read at least some of these Acts. I can give you more details if you PM me.

thanks bro,

yes there are active main 11 acts and laws in sri lanka. but machan they are not adequate?
or may be not practically?
for example
The preamble to this Act states that it is an Act for the prevention,investigation and settlement of industrial disputes. Although the preamble refers to the term “prevention” of industrial disputes, the mechanism under the Act does not have anything concrete for prevention of an industrial dispute. The dispute settlement mechanism such as conciliation, arbitration
etc set out therein are procedures which need to be followed after an industrial dispute has arisen. Therefore, the dispute settlement mechanism under the Act pre-supposes the existence of an industrial dispute and merely lays down the procedure that needs to be followed with regard to settlement.This reflects a total reactive approach rather than being proactive.

so machan controversy in my head is that how should we overcome these kind of negative aspects of the laws in sri lanka without striking the balance between the protection of employees and the flexibilty sought by the emplyers.coz we know that 99% of these laws meant for the ordinary employees rather than the employers

 

[hillarry47]

Hello There!
This is Hillarry!
Im new in this site!
I can give you a brief answer as follows. Yes, the presentlabour laws in Sri Lanka can be said to adequate. The Industrial Disputes Act, Shop and Office Employees Ordinance, Trade Unions Ordinance, Gratuities Act, Termination of Employment Act, laws relating to Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), Employees' Trust Fund (ETF)and such other similar laws are very comprehensive (wide).Try to read at least some of these Acts. I can give you more details if you PM me.
Thanks!...

 

[kosandpol]

The LLs needs to be changed so that tea estate workers are covered by the LLs that cover the rest of the workers as well.
The LLs for the tea estate workers are simply appalling.

EDIT :
my hand eye coordination needs to be shot!

 

[senator]

It appears you are referring to the Industrial Disputes Act.

I don't know whether this answer is what you sought. But there are no specific laws to prevent industrial disputes.

It is like this. There are no laws to prevent murder. The law only says after a murder has taken place, how to investigate it, how to proceed in courts of law, how to punish, etc.

But I think, Collective Agreements are one way to prevent industrial disputes.

 

[senator]

The LLs needs to be changed so that tea estate workers are covered by the LLs that cover the rest of the workers as well.
The LLs for the tea estate workers are simply appalling.

Actually, there was a Collective Agreement between the employers and employees of the estate sector about their wages. Recently, that Agreement expired. So, they have to have a new Agreement. The present dispute is about the terms of a new Agreement.

 

[HRA]

It appears you are referring to the Industrial Disputes Act.

I don't know whether this answer is what you sought. But there are no specific laws to prevent industrial disputes.

It is like this. There are no laws to prevent murder. The law only says after a murder has taken place, how to investigate it, how to proceed in courts of law, how to punish, etc.

But I think, Collective Agreements are one way to prevent industrial disputes.

Not only industrial dispute act all the acts(nearly 11 acts) have their own negetavie aspects when they use in practically.I just took IDA as a example. shop and office emlpymant act, grativity act are such laws.
and machan I don't say that all the laws are like this. as you said collective agreements playing great roll to keep the healthy industrial environment.but most of the laws should be changed.
I'll give a another example.There are certain provisions in the Shop and office emplyment Act which are totally obsolete. For example, regulation to sub section 1 prohibits employment of females in or about the business of any shop or office for any period exceeding 9 hours a day (inclusive of a interval). This in effect means that a female employee cannot work overtime
at all in a shop or office. Quite apart from this provision being an impediment to women in the context of equal opportunities in employment, this restriction is totally out of date and is irrelevant in the current labour market
environment.

and more importantly machan all this laws protecting only employees. what about the balance between the protection of employees and the flexibilty sought by emplyers?

and machan you didn't get my point about dispute prevention machan. preamble to IDA states that the act is meant for prevention of industrial diputes.

and machan we can divide every laws in to two parts.they are preventive laws and penal laws.and machan intention of the legislature making these laws are not only to punish but also to prevent the wrong actions of the people.this thing is big topic coming under jurisprudence which can't describe in a post like this

 

[HRA]

The LLs needs to be changed so that tea estate workers are covered by the LLs that cover the rest of the workers as well.
The LLs for the tea estate workers are simply appalling.

EDIT :
my hand eye coordination needs to be shot!

yes machan highly constraining and restrictvly Labour laws should be overcome.some of traditional labour concepts and laws are not compatible with current economic,social and political factors.

and sri lanka has nearly 55 legislation to control labour relations but only 44 of them are not actively using today.and some acts give different solutions for a same matter,overlapping.

these things should be changed

 

[senator]

Yes, HRA. I agree that our labour laws need to be updated. And that is the job of the legislature. But can you mention some instances where and what changes are necessary?

 

[HRA]

Yes, HRA. I agree that our labour laws need to be updated. And that is the job of the legislature. But can you mention some instances where and what changes are necessary?

yes
I already mentioned about the IDA and Shop oand office act.if our legislature can amend the IDA to include some mechanisms which are not in the act right now to prevent industrial disputes,mechanisms such as code of conducts,grievance handling procedures which are already use in some companies.it is also important that the right to strike should also be regulated through these Codes of Conduct in a manner that would prevent sudden work stoppages without any notice to employers.

machan like this One major problem regarding the GRATUITY ACT that the industry faces in the plantations is with regard to resident employees enjoying all benefits granted by the Plantation Companies not reporting to work and continuing to remain in employment and adding years of service to their employment record.8 The total population of 434 Regional Plantation Company estates in 2006 was 934,000. Out of this, only 249,000 are employed, which amounts to 27% of the population.However, a large proportion of workers who are employed and whose names are in the checkroll report to work only as little as 5 – 10 days a month. For the payment of gratuity on reaching retirement age, these workers are also paid
gratuity regardless of their irregularity at work over the years. The ultimate payout by way of gratuity to workers is massive. More importantly, Companies need to make provision for gratuity each year in their financial accounts and this creates a huge financial impact on the Companies.

In order to prevent this problem we need to introduce an amendment to the Gratuity Act in respect of the definition of an
“year” which is currently defined as a completed period of 12 months in terms of section 20. In other words, if an employee is retained in employment without a cessation of employment, irrespective of whether he reports to work or not, his absence is authorized or not, provision for gratuity has to be made
on the basis that there is continuous employment.
therefore this provision should be amend as "“A “year” shall mean a completed period of 12 consecutive months during which a workman has worked not less than 180 days"

like this machan every law has to be changed machan. above are some instances.