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Nigeria - Working time - 2011


LAST UPDATE

18 August 2011.

SOURCES


Name of Act

Labour Act,
Decree No. 21 of 1974, dated 29 May 1974 (Official Gazette, No. 28, Supplement, 6 June 1974), as amended up to 31 December 1989 (Official Gazette, 1989).

Name of Act

Public Holidays Act,
dated 1979, as amended 28 August 1984.

LEGAL DEFINITIONS


Employee/worker

"worker" means any person who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract is for manual labour or clerical work or is expressed or implied or oral or written, and whether it is a contract of service or a contract personally to execute any work or labour, but does not include-
(a) any person employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer’s business, or
(b) persons exercising administrative, executive, technical or professional functions as public officers or otherwise, or
(c) members of the employer’s family, or
(d) representatives, agents and commercial travellers in so far as their work is carried on outside the permanent workplace of the employer’s establishment; or
(e) any person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, repaired or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or the material; or
(f) any person employed in a vessel or aircraft to which the laws regulating merchant shipping or civil aviation apply;
Labour Act §91(1)

Employer

"employer" means any person who has entered into a contract of employment to employ any other person as a worker either for himself or for the service of any other person, and includes the agent, manager or factor of that first-mentioned person and the personal representatives of a deceased employer;
Labour Act §91(1)

Overtime/overtime work

Hours which a worker is required to work in excess of the normal hours fixed under subsection (1) of this section shall constitute overtime.
Labour Act §13(2)
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Domestic worker

"domestic servant" means any house, stable or garden servant employed in or in connection with the domestic services of any private dwelling house, and includes servant employed as the driver of a privately owned or privately used motor car;
Labour Act §91(1)

Young worker

"young person" means a person under the age of eighteen years.
Labour Act §91(1)

NORMAL HOURS LIMITS


Daily hours limit


General limit

Normal hours of work in any undertaking shall be those fixed-
(a) by mutual agreement; or
(b) by collective bargaining within the organization or industry concerned; or
(c) by an industrial wages board (established by or under an enactment providing for the establishment of such boards) where there is no machinery for collective bargaining.
Labour Act §13(1)
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: Normal hours of work in any undertaking shall be those fixed- (a) by mutual agreement; or (b) by collective bargaining within the organization or industry concerned; or (c) by an industrial wages board (established by or under an enactment providing for the establishment of such boards) where there is no machinery for collective bargaining.

Special categories


» Young workers

8 hours (under 16 years)
Labour Act §59(8)

Weekly hours limit


General limit

Normal hours of work in any undertaking shall be those fixed-
(a) by mutual agreement; or
(b) by collective bargaining within the organization or industry concerned; or
(c) by an industrial wages board (established by or under an enactment providing for the establishment of such boards) where there is no machinery for collective bargaining.
Labour Act §13(1)
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: No general legal weekly limit.
  • 1995: No general legislation.

OVERTIME WORK


Criteria for overtime


General

Hours which a worker is required to work in excess of the normal hours fixed under subsection (1) of this section shall constitute overtime.
Labour Act §13(2)
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Limits on overtime hours


General limits

No legal general limit on overtime work.
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: No legal general limit on overtime work.
  • 1995: No legal provision.

Compensation for overtime work


Overtime rate(s)

No statutory provision on overtime pay.
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: No statutory provision on overtime pay.
  • 1995: 50% premium on working days and 100% on weekly rest days and on public holidays.

REST PERIODS


Rest breaks


General provisions

Where a worker is at work for six hours or more a day, his work shall be interrupted (to the extent which is necessary having regard to its character and duration and to working conditions in general) by allowing one or more suitably spaced rest-intervals of not less than one hour on the aggregate:
Provided that-

(a) exceptions may be made to the rule in this subsection where unforeseen circumstances render them necessary; and
(b) where it is found unavoidable in view of the nature of the work and the working conditions in general, time-off for a meal at the worksite or in the immediate vicinity may be substituted for the rest-interval.

In subsection (3) of this section, "rest-interval" means an interruption of work, of which the length is fixed beforehand and during which the worker is free to dispose of his time and is not required to remain at the place of work.
Labour Act §13(3)(4)
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: 1 hour after 6 hours continuous work.
  • 2007: Additional rest breaks are required for work involving continuous strain or work that is particularly arduous.
  • 2007: May be divided into one or more rests breaks where unforeseen circumstances render them necessary and where it is found in view of the nature of the work and the working conditions in general, time-off for a meal at the work site or in the immediate vicinity may be substituted for the rest-interval.
  • 2007: 1 hour after 6 hours continuous work
  • 1995: One or more rest intervals of not less than 1 hour in total for 6 hours or more of work.

Exceptions

Where a worker is at work for six hours or more a day, his work shall be interrupted (to the extent which is necessary having regard to its character and duration and to working conditions in general) by allowing one or more suitably spaced rest-intervals of not less than one hour on the aggregate:

Provided that-

(a) exceptions may be made to the rule in this subsection where unforeseen circumstances render them necessary; and
(b) where it is found unavoidable in view of the nature of the work and the working conditions in general, time-off for a meal at the worksite or in the immediate vicinity may be substituted for the rest-interval.
Labour Act §13(3)(5)
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Daily rest periods


Duration

No general statutory provisions on daily rest.
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: No general statutory provisions on daily rest.
  • 1995: No legal provision.

Weekly rest periods


Duration


» General

In every period of seven days a worker shall be entitled to one day of rest which shall not be less than twenty-four consecutive hours.
Labour Act §13(7)
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: 1 day
  • 1995: 24 consecutive hours.

Day specified


» General

The act does not specify any particular day for the weekly rest period.

Work on weekly rest day


» Compensation (for working on a rest day)

if any reduction takes place in the weekly rest-period-

(a) corresponding time-off from work shall be allowed as soon as possible (and in any case not later than fourteen days thereafter); or
(b) wages at overtime rates shall be paid in lieu thereof.
Labour Act §13(7)

ANNUAL LEAVE AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS


ANNUAL LEAVE


Duration


» General

Every worker shall be entitled after twelve months continuous service to a holiday with full pay of
(a) at least six working days;
Labour Act §18(1)a)
Historical data (year indicates year of data collection)
  • 2009: 6 days
  • 2007: 6 days
  • 1995: 6 working days (in practice 12 days).

Payment


» Amount

In the calculation of leave pay and sickness benefits only that part of his wages which a worker receives in money (excluding overtime and other allowances) shall be taken into account.
Labour Act §19
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Schedule and splitting

The holiday mentioned in subsection (1) of this section may be deferred by agreement between the employer and the worker:
Provided that the holiday-earning period shall not thereby be increased beyond twenty-four months continuous service.
Labour Act §18(2)

Special categories


» Young workers

Every worker shall be entitled after twelve months continuous service to a holiday with full pay of
(b) in the case of persons under the age of sixteen years (including
apprentices), at least twelve working days.
Labour Act §18(1)b)

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS


Number and dates

There 9 days of public holidays. They are:

1. New Year’s Day
2. Good Friday
3. Easter Monday
4. Workers’ Day (1st May).
5. National Day (1st October).
6. Christmas Day
7. Such day as the Minister may declare to be a public holiday in celebration of the Muslim festival of Id el Fitr.
8. Such day as the Minister may declare to be a public holiday in celebration of the Muslim festival of Id el Kabir.
9. Such day as the Minister may declare to be a public holiday in celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammed (Id el Maulud).

In addition to days mentioned in the Schedule to this Act, the President may by public notice appoint a special day to be kept as a public holiday either throughout Nigeria or in any part thereof, and any day so appointed shall be kept as a public holiday.
Public Holidays Act Schedule , §2(1)

NIGHT WORK


Criteria for night work

In this section, "night" means-
(a) as respects industrial undertakings, a period of at least eleven (or,
where an order under subsection (4) below applies, ten) consecutive hours including the interval between ten o’clock in the evening and five o’clock in the morning; and
(b) as respect agricultural undertakings, a period of at least nine consecutive hours including the interval between nine o’clock in the evening and four o’clock in the morning.

In this section, "night" means a period of at least twelve consecutive hours, including-
(a) in the case of young persons under the age of sixteen years, the
interval between ten o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning; and
(b) in the case of young persons over the age of sixteen years but under the age of eighteen years, a prescribed interval of at least seven consecutive hours falling between ten o’clock in the evening and seven o’clock in the morning.
Labour Act §55(3), 60(4)
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Special categories


Young workers

Subject to this section, no young person shall be employed during the night.

Young persons over the age of sixteen years may be employed during the night in the following industrial undertakings or activities which by reason of the nature of the process are required to be carried on continuously day and night, that is to say-
(a) in the manufacture of iron and steel, in processes in which
reverberatory or regeneratory furnaces are used and in the
galvanizing of sheet metal or wire (except the pickling process);
(b) glass works;
(c) manufacture of paper;
(d) manufacture of raw sugar; and
(e) gold mining reduction work.

Young persons over the age of sixteen may be employed during the night in cases of emergency which-
(a) could not have been controlled or foreseen;
(b) are not of a periodical character; and
(c) interfere with the normal working of an industrial undertaking.
Labour Act §60(1)(2)(3)
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Women

No woman shall be employed on night work (work of at least eleven consecutive hours including the time between 10p.m. and 5 a.m. or nine hours in agricultural undertakings between 9p.m. and 4a.m.) in a public or private industrial undertaking or in any branch thereof, or in any agricultural undertaking or any branch thereof.
Labour Act §55(1)(3)
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Results generated on: 29th March 2024 at 02:46:07.
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