COMMENTARY ON CERTAIN ASPECTS PROVIDED UNDER THE LABOUR AMENDMENT BILL, 2021

Various amendments to the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) hereinafter called “the Act”, are being crafted and the relevant Bill was approved by the Cabinet.2 We took the opportunity to go through the Bill and we saw interesting aspects of this proposed law. In this commentary, we will concentrate on aspects that we consider more controversial such as the changes that are going to affect fixed-term contracts, collective bargaining, powers of designated agents and labour officers, and retrenchment. These are aspects that affect the employer and the employee on a day-to-day basis. Besides outlining what the Bill is providing, in certain circumstances, we took the opportunity to respectfully highlight the strengths that are going to come with the Bill. We have also respectfully outlined what we consider to be the shortcomings in the Bill. We trust you will enjoy reading this commentary.

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