23 November 2011

LOW

Labour Act, 2007. Supplement "C" to the Gambia Gazette, 2007-10-19, No. 20, 130 pp.,

Constitution

Act N.12 of 1994 to provide for the control and management of the manufacture, distribution and use of hazardous chemicals and pesticides and to make provision for matters connected therewith.

Factories Regulations No.18 of 1963

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1989

Republic of The Gambia State House Online.

Government of the Republic of Gambia.

ISSA
Gambia country profile.

Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation

Health Policy 2011-2015

CHILDREN’S ACT 2005
Summary

THE GAMBIA NATIONAL GENDER
POLICY 2010- 2020

The Labour Act applies to all employment by any employer.
The Act does not apply to:
The Civil Service;
The Armed Forces, except those employed in a civil capacity;
The National Guard, Police Force; Security Service or the Prisons Service, except those employed in a civil capacity;
Domestic service;
Employment of a member of the employer’s household living in the employer’s house.

Employee with:
a) two years continuous service with the same employer, or
b) whose period of service with the same employer has been interrupted by one or more periods, none of which exceeds seven months and who has in aggregate not less than eighteen months service with the same employer

six weeks immediately preceding the expected date of confinement.

at least 12 weeks (6 weeks prenatal and 6 weeks postnatal leave)

Not provided neither for multiple births nor for illness arisen out from confinement.

An employee is entitled to accumulate days of paid sick leave provided for by Joint Industrial Council Agreement, collective agreement, or otherwise by his or her contract of employment up to a maximum entitlement attainable by any twelve months of employment.

Not provided.

General rules for sickness apply. Therefore, an employee is entitled to accumulate days of paid sick leave provided for by Joint Industrial Council Agreement, collective agreement, or otherwise by his or her contract of employment up to a maximum of the entitlement attainable by any twelve months of employment.

Not provided.

Not provided.

Not provided.

Pregnant workers or nursing mothers are not entitled with the right to apply during pregnancy or after confinement for part-time working hours.

REGARDING NON DISCRIMINATION AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY.

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION MEASURES:

There was not identified any legal provision in the Labour Act

In the Constitution regarding rights of women.
(1) Women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men.
(2) Women shall have the right to equal treatment with men, including equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities.

It is also stipulated in the Constitution, the right to be protected from discrimination by establishing, all persons shall be equal before the law and no law shall make any provision which is discriminatory either or itself or in its effect.
PROHIBITION OF PREGNANCY TEST

Is not prohibited.

PROTECTION FROM DISCRIMINATORY DISMISSAL

An employer shall not terminate an employee’s appointment or take disciplinary action against an employee unless there is a valid reason for the termination or action connected with the capacity or conduct of the employee or based on the operational requirements of the enterprise.
The following reasons do not constitute valid reasons for dismissal or taking of disciplinary action-
a) an employee’s pregnancy or having taken maternity leave, race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction,ethnic or social origin.

BURDEN OF PROOF

A dismissal is unfair among other reasons if it is based on pregnancy or because a female employee has taken her maternity leave, or it is a constructive dismissal.

Before deciding to dismiss an employee, the employer shall explain to the employee the reason for which the employer is considering dismissing that employee, and hear and consider any representations made in defense of the employee.

Proof that an employer failed to satisfy the previous obligations raises a refutable presumption that the employer did not act with justice and equity in dismissing the employee.

There is a conclusive presumption that the dismissal of an employee is unfair if, in a claim or complaint arising out of the dismissal, the employer fails to provide the reason for dismissal.

Failure by the employer to deliver to the employee at the time of dismissal a written statement of the reason for the dismissal raises a refutable presumption that the reason for dismissal wrong or that the employer did not act with justice and equity in dismissing the employee,whichever may be applicable in the context of the case.


GUARANTEED RIGHT TO RETURN TO WORK

An employee returning from maternity leave shall be placed in the same job with the same benefits and entitlements as immediately before her maternity leave began, within four weeks of giving notice to her employer of her wish to return to her employment.

REGARDING BREASTFEEDING BREAKS

There are not legal provisions on this in the Labour Code.

The Labour Act applies to all employment by any employer.
The Act does not apply to:
The Civil Service;
The Armed Forces, except those employed in a civil capacity;
The National Guard, Police Force; Security Service or the Prisons Service, except those employed in a civil capacity;
Domestic service;
Employment of a member of the employer’s household living in the employer’s house.

Employee with:
a) two years continuous service with the same employer, or
b) whose period of service with the same employer has been interrupted by one or more periods, none of which exceeds seven months and who has in aggregate not less than eighteen months service with the same employer

12 weeks

100 per cent

Employer.

Not provided.

Not provided.

Not provided.

Not provided in the Labour Code.
There was not identified another statutory provision regarding the health-care for women during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-natal period.

In the Health Policy 2011-2015 the ante-natal,delivery and post-partum care are included in the minimum health care package in the head of the Village Health Committee VHC. Regarding health financing, it is stated in this document that Gambia government budgetary allocation to the health sector is still below the 15% target Abuja Declaration.

It is not prohibited.
There are not legal provisions on night work at all.

It is not prohibited.
There are not legal provisions on overtime work and its wages, and it is the contract of employment which shall include the rate of remuneration, the normal hours of work, any provisions for sickness or holidays.

It is not prohibited.
There are not legal provisions on rest periods.

Not provided.

Not provided.

In the Labour Code there are not legal provisions regarding special risks neither for pregnant workers nor for female workers.

No person shall engage a child(person under 18 years of age) in any occupation or activity that is likely to be harmful to the health,safety,education,morals or development of the child or prejudicial to his/her attendance at school or any other vocational program.

Regarding the Inspection of working places in order to assess risks, the Commissioner acting under the authority of the Secretary of State or the person acting under her/his mandate or the Labour Inspector may where a person is sick or the conditions of his or her employment, or recruitment centers are not conducive to the rapid recovery of the person’s health, require the employer or recruiter, at the earliest opportunity and at his or her own expense, to send the person to the place of his or her engagement or to the hospital, as the case may require. Furthermore, the Commissioner may prohibit the engagement of a worker at any place of employment where the conditions in the place do not comply with the requirements of the Employment Act or the regulations made under it.

The Labour Code has also established that employers shall supply employees with a safety equipment or safety device of such nature and quality as to provide the employee adequate protection, so far as is reasonably practicable,from the risk occasioned by the activity in which he or she is engaged.

The Factories regulations of 1963 do not establishes any legal provision to protect neither female workers nor pregnant workers from special risks. Nevertheless, it stipulates measures to guarantee safety and health in factories for the protection of all workers.

All members of the Factories Board and any Inspector shall have power to enter any factory for the purposes of inspection at all reasonable times.

There are not provisions on this matter in the Labour Code.

Not provided.

Not provided.

Not provided.

An employee returning from maternity leave shall be placed in the same job with the same benefits and entitlements as immediately before her maternity leave began, within four weeks of giving notice to her employer of her wish to return to her employment.

The Labour Code does not enlist any particular risk at work for pregnant women and/or nursing mothers, neither does it the Factories Regulations.

12 December 2011

NORMAL

Employment Act 1995 Act No.29, dated 28 February 1995 (Official Gazette, Supplement, 13 March 1995, p. 5-70), as amended up to Act No. 4, dated 25 April 2006 (Official Gazette, 2 May 2006, pp. 35-45).

Conditions of Employment Regulations 1991, Statutory Instrument No. 34, dated 24 April 1991 (Official Gazette, Supplement, 29 April 1991, pp. 115-136),as amended up to Statutory Instrument No. 9, 2006, dated 14 March 2006 (Official Gazette, Supplement, 20 March 2006).

Employment (Conditions of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations, 2007, dated 31 December 2007.
PDF not available.

Act No. 11 of 5th July 2010 Supplement to Official Gazette 93
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT, 2010.
This Act repeal and replace the Social Security Act,1987.

Social Security (Benefits) Regulations 1987, Statutory Instrument No. 92, dated 31 December 1987 (Official Gazette, Vol. 13, No. 1, Supplement, 1 January 1988, pp. 609-639), as amended up to the Social Security (Benefits) (Amendment) Regulations, 2007, dated 17 January 2007 (Official Gazette,Supplement, 21 January 2007; pp. 5-6).
PDF Not available.

Constitution of Seychelles

Occupational Safety and Health Decree Chapter 151 191 and Subsidiary legislation.

Employment Department Seychelles

Ministry of Health Seychelles

Ministry of Finance-Social Security Fund

Government of Seychelles.

"The State recognizes the unique status and natural maternal functions of women in society and undertakes as a result to take appropriate measures to ensure that a working mother is afforded special protection with regard to paid leave and her conditions at work during such reasonable period as provided by law before and after childbirth."

Maternity protection under the Employment Act and Conditions of Work Regulations covers:
A female worker under a contract of continuous employment or, subject to sub regulations(3),under a contract for a fixed term or part-time.
(Female employees aged 15 years and above) including public servants.

A woman worker is required to give notice to her employer at least three months before the expected date of confinement

Fourteen weeks, twelve of which must be taken after confinement.

Fourteen weeks.

Not provided in case of multiple births.

Sick leave on medically certified illness resulting from pregnancy or confinement.
(An aggregate of 30 paid days in a year period and an aggregate of maximum 60 days unpaid sick leave after the exhaustion of paid sick leave))

Not provided.

The Employment Act applies to workers under a contract of continuous employment or, subject to sub regulations(3),under a contract for a fixed term or part-time.
(employees aged 15 years and above) including public servants.

Although there is not provided an statutory paternity leave, the compassionate leave does not have qualifying conditions to be entitled to.

The Seychelles does not have this type of leave but under the Employment Act and Conditions of Work Regulations, male employees in the private and public sectors are entitled to up to four days of paid leave for compassionate reasons (for the death of a close relative and not only). Leave taken in excess of four days within a 12-month period is unpaid. A worker must also be allowed reasonable time off work, with or without pay at the discretion of the employer, to attend matters which cannot normally be attended to except during the worker’s working hours.

Not provided.

Neither pregnant workers nor breastfeeding mothers are entitled to apply for part-time working hours.

A person who is a citizen of seychelles and is resident is entitled to apply for benefits payable under this Act.

A woman, being a person covered, shall be entitled to maternity benefit for a prescribed period if-
a. her confinement, or expected confinement, for childbirth is certified by a medical practitioner in a form approved by the Minister;
b. she was in employment, either as an employed person or self-employed person, immediately prior to the period of which she is claiming benefit; and
c. she is not entitled to any other benefit, other than survivor’s benefit.

Maternity benefits are paid during the whole length of maternity leave.

A flat monthly rate.
The percentage of wage is not stipulated in the Social Security Act of 2010.
Where a medical practitioner certifies in a form approved by the Minister that the person covered(maternity cash benefit) is incapable of work on account of her confinement, or expected confinement, for childbirth for more than the period prescribed under section 6, the person covered shall be entitled to sickness benefit under and in accordance with section 5 and thereafter to invalidity benefit under and in accordance with section 10.

Social Security Fund.
Payments to be made into the Fund shall include-(a) all rents, interest on investments and other income derived from the assets of the Fund;(b) such sums as may be provided by the Government for the purposes of this Act or as may be received and accepted by the Director on behalf of the Fund.

Not provided.

The Seychelles does not have this type of leave, but under the Employment Act and Conditions of Work Regulations, a worker in the private and public sectors is entitled to up to four days of paid leave for compassionate reasons (for the death of a close relative and not only). Leave taken in excess of four days within a 12-month period is unpaid.

There are not established qualifying conditions.

The right is regulated by the Employment regulations, the compassionate leave up to four days seems to be payed as a regular working day.

Not provided.

The only provision found in the Labour Code on this matter stipulates that "where a worker on an outer island is ill and facilities for his treatment are not available on the island or where a female worker or wife or concubine of a worker is pregnant, the employer shall, at his expense, arrange for the repatriation of the sick worker or of the pregnant woman to Mahe or to a hospital or health centre where adequate care and treatment are available".

There are no medical benefits provided for circumstances such as pre-natal, childbirth and post-natal care benefits for female workers in the Social Security Act, and it was not possible to access to the Social Security Act regulations in order to confirm whether or not female workers or pregnant wives or pregnant partners of male workers are entitled to any medical benefit.

The Ministry of Health of Seychelles through its official website does not mention any medical benefit for women during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-natal period. Nonetheless, the official website of the Government of the Republic of Seychelles inform the following:
Any resident of Seychelles may use the maternity care services offered.
You need to go to your respective health centre.

According to the official website of the Government of Seychelles:
For citizens or residents of Seychelles who are government employees, the service is free.
For non-citizen residents who are employed in the private sector have to pay for the service. The price depend on the extent at which the service is used.
There is not further information available on this subject.

From her sixth month of pregnancy and up to three months after her confinement, a female worker may not be employed at night between the hours of 22:00 and 5:00.

From her sixth month of pregnancy and up to three months after her confinement, a female worker may not be employed on overtime work.

It is not forbidden neither for pregnant workers nor for breastfeeding mothers. Nonetheless, is also established, that an employer shall grant to his/her workers at least 24 consecutive hour’s rest in any period of 7 days.

Except in an essential service, an employer shall not require a worker, other than a shift-worker or a watchman, to work on holidays. Nevertheless, is also established in a posterior legal provision in the same regulations, that nothing in the preceding provisions shall be construed as preventing an employer who requires any worker to work on a holiday from agreeing to allow double pay for that day or an alternative holiday at the worker’s option.

Not provided expressly neither for pregnant workers nor working mothers. Even-though, it has been stipulated that a worker shall also be allowed reasonable time off work, with or without pay at the discretion of the employer, to attend to matters which cannot normally be attended to except during the worker’s working hours.

Not provided.

There are not special measures enacted on the assessment of working places in order to protect health and safety neither of pregnant workers nor of breastfeeding mothers. However, it has been established a general duty in the head of every employer to ensure, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees and to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

There are not special measures provided to protect health and safety neither of pregnant workers nor of breastfeeding mothers. However, it has been established a general duty in the head of every employer to ensure, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
Among the duties are: the arrangement for ensuring safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances, the provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is safe, without risks to health and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.

At any time during pregnancy and up to three months after confinement, if a female worker produces a medical certificate stating that a change in the nature of her work or duties is necessary in the interest of her health or that of her child, she has the right to be transferred to other work or duties appropriate to her condition without loss of wages.

Where a transfer is not possible, the female worker is entitled to sick leave(paid).

It is not expressly provided the right of a female worker to return to the same job she was performing before taking her sickness leave during pregnancy if the transfer to other job was not possible and/or after returning from her maternity leave.

Not mentioned.

Not mentioned.

Not mentioned.

Not mentioned.

Not mentioned.

There are not special measures adopted in favor of women, pregnant workers and/or working mothers in this sense.
There is a Constitutional right in favor of all persons: "Right to equal protection of the law (1)Every person has a right to equal protection of the law including the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set out in this Charter without discrimination on any ground except as is necessary in a democratic society. (2) Clause (1) shall not preclude any law, programme or activity which has as its object the amelioration of the conditions of disadvantaged persons or groups".

Not prohibited.

Notice of termination shall not be given to a worker while that worker is on sick leave or pregnant or on maternity leave unless the competent officer so authorizes.

It is not established a burden of proof in employer’s head in case of discriminatory dismissal of a pregnant worker or of a worker on maternity leave.

It is not provided.