Labour Law in Zambia: An Introduction

449 Pages·2020·7.216 MB·English

by  Chanda Chungu, Ernest Beele

23mm
Labour Law in Zambia
An Introduction
Labour Law in Zambia Book NEW.indb 1 2020/06/05 8:04 AM
Labour Law in Zambia Book NEW.indb 2 2020/06/05 8:04 AM
Labour Law in Zambia
An Introduction
S e c o n d e d i t i o n
By
Chanda Chungu
LLB (Cape Town) LLM (Cape Town) MSc (Oxon)
and
Ernest Beele
LLB (Zambia) LLM (Wisconsin-Madison)
MA (Warwick) PhD (Warwick)
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Labour Law in Zambia: An Introduction
First published 2018
Second edition 2020
© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd
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ISBN (Print): 978 1 48513 623 1
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CONTENTS
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
About the Commissioning and Series Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Latin Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Table of Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv
CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND SOURCES OF EMPLOYMENT
LAW IN ZAMBIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 .1 History of Employment Law in Zambia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 .2 Sources of Employment Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1 .2 .1 The Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1 .2 .2 Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1 .3 Case Law and the Common Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1 .4 International Labour Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Key Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
CHAPTER 2 THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 .1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 .2 Nature of the Employment Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 .3 Formalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 .3 .1 Oral contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 .3 .2 Written contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 .4 Probation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 .5 Types of Written Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 .5 .1 Temporary employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 .5 .2 Short-term contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 .5 .3 Long-term contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 .5 .4 Seasonal employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 .5 .5 Permanent employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
v
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vi Labour Law in Zambia: An Introduction
2 .6 Terms of an Employment Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 .6 .1 Statutory terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 .6 .2 Express terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 .6 .3 Incorporated terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 .6 .4 Implied terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 .6 .5 Custom and practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 .7 Variation of the Terms and Conditions in the Contract of
Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 .7 .1 Critique of the position on unilateral variations
in Zambia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2 .8 Transfer of Employees from One Employer to Another . . . . . . . . . 28
2 .8 .1 Secondment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Key Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
CHAPTER 3 COMMON-LAW DUTIES OF EMPLOYEES
AND EMPLOYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 .1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 .2 The Employee’s Common-Law Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 .2 .1 Readiness and willingness to render personal service . . . . 36
3 .2 .2 Obedience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 .2 .3 Reasonable skill and care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 .2 .4 Good faith and loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.5 Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2.6 Avoiding conflicts of interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3 .2 .7 Adapt to new methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3 .2 .8 Indemnify the employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 .2 .9 Inventions discovered during employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 .3 Restraint of Trade Clauses in Employment Contracts . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 .4 The Employers’ Common-Law Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3 .4 .1 Pay wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3 .4 .2 Provide work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 .4 .3 Take reasonable care of employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3 .4 .4 Provide a safe system of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3 .4 .5 Indemnify the employee against liabilities and losses . . . . 46
3 .4 .6 Trust and respect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
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Basic Conditions of Employment vii
3 .5 Testimonials and References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3 .6 Vicarious Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Key Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
CHAPTER 4 BASIC CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT . . . . . . . 53
4 .1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4 .2 Statutory Instruments made Pursuant to the Repealed
Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment Act . . . . . . . . . . 54
4 .3 Relationship between the Employment Code Act and the
Statutory Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4 .4 Labour Advisory Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4 .5 Minimum Wage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4 .6 Payment of Wages and Deductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4 .7 Working Hours and Overtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4 .8 Leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4 .8 .1 Annual leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4 .8 .2 Maternity leave and protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4 .8 .3 Paternity leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4 .8 .4 Sick leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4 .8 .5 Mother’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4 .8 .6 Compassionate and family responsibility leave . . . . . . . . . 77
4 .8 .7 Forced leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4 .8 .8 Garden leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.9 Allowances and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4 .9 .1 Repatriation allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4 .9 .2 Transport allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4 .9 .3 Lunch allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4 .9 .4 Funeral assistance allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4 .9 .5 Subsistence allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4 .9 .6 Housing allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4 .9 .7 Upset allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4 .9 .8 Gratuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.9.9 Fringe benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4 .9 .10 Skills development levy and personal levy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
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viii Labour Law in Zambia: An Introduction
4 .10 Promotion and Renewal of Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.11 Benefits at the End of the Employment Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.11.1 Accrued benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.11.2 Terminal benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4 .11 .3 Severance pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Key Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
CHAPTER 5 EMPLOYEES’ CONDUCT AND
DISCIPLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 .1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 .2 Termination of the Employment Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 .2 .1 Termination with notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 .2 .2 Payment in lieu of notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5 .2 .3 Termination without notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5 .2 .4 Agreement or mutual consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.2.5 Effluxion or lapse of time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5 .2 .6 By frustration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5 .2 .7 Dissolution of partnership and company liquidation . . . . . 102
5 .3 Dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 .3 .1 Valid reasons for dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 .3 .2 Fair procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5 .3 .3 Summary dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5 .3 .4 Unfair dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5 .3 .5 Wrongful dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5 .3 .6 Disguising reason for dismissal based on bad faith or
discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5 .4 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5 .5 Constructive Dismissal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5 .6 Suspension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5 .7 Redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5 .7 .1 Employer ceasing or intending to cease to carry on
the business which engaged the employees . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5 .7 .2 Business ceasing or diminishing, or expected to cease or
diminish the requirement for the employees to carry out
work of a particular kind in the place where the
employees were engaged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
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Workplace Discrimination ix
5.7.3 Employer no longer financially able to sustain
employing the employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5 .7 .4 Adverse, unilateral alterations of the contract of
employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5 .8 Redundancy Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5 .8 .1 Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5 .8 .2 Consultations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5 .8 .3 Mitigating the effects of redundancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.8.4 Notification to the Labour Commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5 .8 .5 Selection procedure for redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5 .8 .6 Re-appointment of redundant employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5 .8 .7 Redundancy pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5 .9 Termination based on Illness or Disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5 .10 Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5 .10 .1 Reinstatement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5 .10 .2 Re-employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5 .10 .3 Compensatory damages for loss of employment . . . . . . . . 135
5 .10 .4 Enhanced compensatory damages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5 .10 .5 Employee’s duty to mitigate loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Key Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
CHAPTER 6: WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6 .1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.2 Political Opinion or Affiliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
6 .3 Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
6 .3 .1 Sex and marital status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6 .3 .2 Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6 .3 .3 Pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6 .3 .4 Persons with disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6 .3 .5 Equal pay for work of equal value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6 .3 .6 Trade union membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6 .3 .7 Analogous grounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6 .3 .8 Indirect discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6 .3 .9 Harassment and victimisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
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