Keeth’s Issue in “Sky” construction site

Keeth was a civil engineer who worked for condominium construction site over 10
years. Since the company have started in Galle Keeth was appointed as a chief
engineer for the Galle site. Once Keeth was entering into the site he took the
temporarily stairs and suddenly fell down from 8th floor to ground floor which caused
him with serious spinal and brain damages. But the firm claimed to his wife that no
liabilities can be provided to his accident as Keeth is a qualified, experienced engineer
familiar with the site and operations.

According to this Incident towards Keeth the following issues were identified:

 The firm claims that they have no liability towards Keeth’s accident.
 He fell down from the 8th to ground floor causing spinal and brain damages.
 Keeth is a qualified, experienced engineer familiar to the site.
 Keeth is employed as a chief engineer and his services towards the company is
over 10 years.

Under the legal issue the above problems fall into following Laws.

 Workmen Compensation Ordinance No.19 of 1934

 Employee Trust Fund Act No.46 of 1980
 Employees Provident Fund Act No.15 of 1958
 Payment of Gratuity Act No.12 of 1983
 a. Workmen Compensation Ordinance No.19 of 1934

According to the Act, it has made provision “to provide for the payment of
compensation to workmen who are injured in the course of their employment.
Therefore, when an employee is caused under following situation fall into this
category.

 Provide for payment of compensation to workmen if personal injury is caused

by accident arising out of and in the course of employment.
 Pay compensation to any one suffering from an occupational disease as
mentioned in the scenario.
 Pay compensation to dependents of any deceased workman who has died as a
result of any accident or occupational disease.
 To pay compensation for any disease that could reasonably be attributable to
the nature of employment.

In the above scenario Keeth have to be paid compensation because the accident was
caused in his workplace and during his working hours. Accordingly, to workmen
compensation Keeth is person who has entered into works under a contract with the
condominium constructions for the purpose of business. As he is not influence in
taking liquor during the working hours Keeth’s have to be given his compensation.

As Keeth was caused in serious brain and spinal damage. The liability to pay
compensation arises as he is unable to wake up as a result of an accident happened in
the site and in the course of his employment. Also keeth was engaged in doing
something in the discharged of his duty to the construction company.

The claim to keeth have to be paid within 2 years of the accident. As Keeth was
unable to wake up and he is not able to come to get claim his wife (the immediate
person) is able to request for claims of her husband. Also, the company want to record
these incident and send it to Labor department. Failing to do ill cause fine and issue to
the company.
 b. Finland Workmen Compensation Ordinance

In Finland, the statutory worker’s compensation insurance is administered by private

accident insurance companies, such as if P & C insurance. Consequently, employers
in the private and public sector take out insurance from these private accident
insurance companies.

Occupational accident insurance covers, among other things in Finland,

 Medical expenses and research costs due to an injury or illness.

 Daily subsistence allowance
 Accident pension (full pension is 85%)
 Rehabilitation and other rehabilitation benefits
 Allowance for permanent inconvenience
 Survivors pension (maximum of 70%)
 Funeral assistance

Here the occupational accident insurance covers all employees in employment.

This accident insurance covers:

 A member of the family of a self-employed person an employment contract

under the employment contract.
 A silent partner of a limited partnership who has an employment relationship
under the employment contracts.
 A non-managerial shareholder working for a limited liability company.
 A shareholder working in a PLC who owns a maximum of 30% of the shares
or of the voting rights held jointly with members of the same household.
 c. ETF Act No.46 of 1980

This providing ETF is brought forward with the objective of providing social security
to the employee population of the mercantile sector from this the employees working
in a workplace are covered for the payment of ETF.The employer of the organization
contributes 3% from the monthly earnings of the employee. By paying ETF to the
employee in Sri Lanka an employee of the organization in which this scenario
condominium construction employee keeth will be benefited on following occasions.

 When the member ceases to be an employee

Example: Keeth is an employee of condominium construction
 On the death of an employee to be paid to legal heirs.
Example: Keeth accident have caused a severe injury in his brain and spinal
cord which we can predict that Keeth is unable to way anymore.
 Withdrawals can be allowed only in 5 years except when the employment is
terminated on disablement due to an accident or disease.
Example: Since Keeth have met with a severe accident he can withdraw his
ETF from the Labor Department for his 10 Years of service in the company.

Keeth can also benefit as he is a member under the fund.

 Hospitalization medical insurance.

 Life Insurance benefits
 Permanent disability insurance benefits
 Financial assistance for his wife
 d. EPF Act No.46 of 1980

As “Sky” is a private sector and the EPF is provided to help out the employee in
situations that would result, on stoppage at earnings in sickness, maternity, industrial
accidents, occupational diseases, unemployment, invalidity, old age etc.

As keeth got an industrial accident he can be benefited since he is a member of EPF

who became medically unfit and therefore he also became permanently and totally
incapacitated to attend for the work again.

e. Gratuity Act No.12 of 1983

Under the Gratuity Act No.12 of 1983 Keeth was employed for the organization for
more than 10 years. Therefore, Keeth is eligible to entitle Gratuity Payment. The
following are the reasons that Keeth can be entitle to Gratuity Payment.

 Employees whose period of service is 5 years or more.

Example: Keeth is an employee who have more than 10 years of services to
the company.

Here Keeth is a chief who is a monthly paid employee of the organization. Therefore,
they have to pay him half of the monthly terminal salary for each year of service. Due
to that the employer is to prescribe to pay Gratuity payment within the given period of
12 months in Act if not the employer has to pay surcharge. Though the government of
Finland do not have EPF, ETF and Gratuity Payment they pay various other benefits
when it comes to their wages.
 f. Benefits Provide by Finland Government to Private
Sector Employees (Wages, Leaves and other benefits).

According to the statistics in private sector wages and salaries

For Private sector monthly wages earners, the definition of fall time employment is
based on weekly working hours, as in the structural statistics of wages and salaries. In
these statistics, wages and salary earners whose regular weekly working hours exceed
90% of the general working time in the industry are defined as working full-time.

Information on other wages and salary earners full time employment is obtained
through inquires or defined according to the employment relationship. If a wage and
salary earners regular, weekly working hours are not known, also information on
earnings is used to define full time employment. The distinction between full time and
part time employment is not made separately for private sector hourly wage earners.

Illness and Injury of employees

Entitlement to paid time off

Employees who are prevented from performing their work by an illness or accident
are entitled to pay during illness. However, an employee is not entitled to pay during
illness if they have caused their disability willfully or by gross negligence.

If the employment relationship has lasted for at least one month, an employee is
entitled to:

 Full pay from the employer for the period of disability for up to nine days
following the date of falling ill.
 Sickness allowance from the state under the sickness Insurance Act after ten
days.

The amount of sickness allowance is based on the employees earned income and is
paid for weekdays and Saturdays for a maximum period of 300 days. In employment
relationships that have lasted for less than one month, employees are entitled to 50%
of their pay.
Entitlement of unpaid time off

Employees prevented from performing their work due to illness or accident are
entitled to their full salary during the first day of illness and the following nine
weekdays, unless a wider pay obligation has been set out in the applicable collective
agreement. An employer can grant additional unpaid time off at an employee’s
request.

Recovery of Sick Pay from the state

The employer cannot recover the salary paid to the employee during the ten-day
period. If the employer pays a salary to the employee after that period, it can recover
the sickness allowance payable to the employee from the Finnish social Insurance
Institution
Rashmy Issue in “Sky” Organization

Rashmy was an account assistant who worked for sky over 10 years. Due to excessive
work load the finance manager pushed Rashmy to report for the work after 30 days of
her maternity leave. But the finance manager has refused to give her the maternity
benefits and warned her that her contract of employment will be terminated unless she
complies with the needs of the department. According to the incident towards Rashmy
the following issues were identified.

 Rashmy was pushed by the finance manager to report to work after 30 days of
her maternity leave
 Finance manager refused to give her maternal benefits
 Finance Manager warned Rashmy that her contract of employment will be
terminated.

Under the legal issues the above problems fall under following laws.

a. Maternity Benefits Ordinance No.32 of 1939

b. Termination of Employment of workmen (Special Provisions Act No 45 0f
1971)
 a. Maternity Benefits Ordinance No.32 of 1939

Maternity Ordinance is an ordinance to make provision for the payment of Maternity

benefits to women workers and for other matters incidental to the employment of such
women before and after their confinement. Maternity benefits means the amount of
money payable under the provision of this ordinance to a woman worker. According
to the entitlement under the ordinance it is revealed that:

Section 02- No employer shall knowingly employ a woman worker at any time during
the period of a 4 weeks immediately following her confinement.

Example: Here Rashmy was called to work during her maternity leave.

Section 03- According to this section 03 a women worker is entitled for the payment
of maternity benefits as follows:

Example: Here Rashmy was reported to the work before the 10 weeks of her
confinement.

According to the ordinance an employment of a woman worker should not be

terminated in consequences of pregnancy illness resulting from pregnancy or
confinement.

A notice of termination of employment should not be served on a women worker

during her absence or on a day that the day that the notice will expire during such
absence. Therefore, in Rashmy Scenario the sky company cannot terminate Rashmy
on a women worker during her absence on a working which is related to her
maternity. Also she has to be provided with her maternity benefits violating the law
by sky is a breach against the law in which case Rashmy could complain to the Labor
Department and the company will have to pay surcharges or any other relevant case to
violating the Law. When it comes to Finland law the maternity benefits for the
pregnant women worker is provided much better benefits than Sri Lanka.
 b. Benefits provided by Finland Government to private
Sector Employees (Maternity, Paternity and other
benefits and leaves)

Maternity Rights

A mother is entitled to:

Maternity leave of 105 days (excluding Sundays) which typically begins 50 to 30

days before the expected date of birth. The employer is not generally obliged to pay a
salary during maternity leave. However, this obligation is often imposed in the
applicable collective agreement. Kela grants the employee some earnings related
maternity allowance during the maternity and paternal leave. Following this family
leave, employees are entitled to return to work with the same employer and primarily
to their former duties. Parents also accrue annual holiday during family leave.

Paternity Rights

Paternity leave can be last up to 54 weekdays (including Saturdays). Fathers can take
up 18 weekdays as paternity leave during the mother’s maternity leave. The rest of the
Paternity leave during the mother’s maternity leave. The rest of the paternity leave or
the whole 54 working days can be taken after the maternity and parental leave
allowance. Paternity leave can also be divided into shorter periods. Earnings related
Paternity allowance will be paid during the Paternity leave. The entire Paternity leave
must be taken before the child turns two years of age and it cannot be assigned to the
other parent.

Parental Leave

After maturity leave finishes either parent can take parental leave to look after the
child up to a maximum of 158 working days (including Saturdays). Parental Leave
can be shared between the mother and the father.
Adoption Rights

The adoption parents of a child under seven years of age are entitled to parental leave
of 200 working days from the date of the adoption, or 234 working days from the date
of the birth of the child, whichever is longer. Adoptive parent’s paternity leave must
be taken during the two years following the date the child is taken into care.

Parental Rights

Both women and men are entitled to full-time child care until their child (or child
living permanently in their household) reaches the age of three. However, only one
person with the care and custody of a child can take a leave at a time (expect during
maternity or parental leave). kela provides an allowance to employees taking
childcare leave.

Parents have a right to partial childcare leaves (that is, reduced working hours, until
the end of the second year, of the child’s basic education). In addition to receiving
partial salary, kela pays an allowance to an employee working between 40% to 60%
of the maximum amount of working hours of a full-time employee in the sector in
question during the partial childcare leave.

Careers Rights

Employees are entitled to temporary absence from work of their immediate presence
is necessary because of an unforeseeable and compelling reason due to an illness or
accident suffered by a family member.
 c. Termination of Employment of Workmen
(Special Provisions) Act No.45 0f 1971

According to the scenario Rashmy cannot be terminated by sky with the reason of
maternity a termination of employment has to be taken only on following issues
according to srilanka rules.

 Retrenchment for loss of business

 Termination for inefficiency, irregular attendance, prolonged absence due to
permanent incapacity to work or redundancy arising out of re-organization.
 No disciplinary reasons

In Rashmy scenario, the sky comes is violating the provisions of the Act and the
commissioner of labor found it, they can order the sky company to continue the
employee in employment and that will be the final decision. When the employer is
called for the Labor Department he would be failed to show the important document
therefore Rashmy will be provided with maternity benefits sometimes the
commissioner decision will be final.

When it comes to Finland the Termination of Employment has various in detail

regulation as below
 d. In details Regulation of Termination of Employees
according to Finland Government

Notice period

An employment contract valid until further notice can be terminated by the employer
by giving notice to the employee. Unless otherwise provided in the applicable
collective agreement, the parties to an employment relationship can agree on the
notice period in the employment contract. The maximum length of the notice period
to be observed by the employer is six months and the shortest 14 days. In addition, the
notice period applicable for the employer must not be shorter than the one applicable
for the employer must not be shorter than the one applicable for the employee. If the
period of notice is not agreed or set out by a collective agreement, the employer must
apply the following notice periods based on the employee’s length of service.

 Up to one-year Employment-Fourteen days

 One to four years Employment-one month
 Four to eight years Employment –two months
 Eight to 12 years Employment-Four months
 Over 12 years Employment-Six months

If the employee terminates the employment relationship, the following notice periods
are to be provided.

 Up to five years-14 days

 Over 5 years Employment-One month

Severance Payments

Finland government pays severance.

Procedural Requirement for dismissal

An employer need a relevant and substantial reasons for giving an employee notice.
The grounds for terminating an employment contract are divided into two categories.

 Individual grounds that relate to the conduct and performance of an individual

employee.
 Collective grounds that related to financial and production related reasons to
the company’s restructuring.

Procedure want to be determined by the:

 Side of the employer

 No of employees being dismissed

Protection Against dismissal

Termination of employment without legal grounds can lead to an obligation to pay

compensation to the employee, equal to between three and 24 months’ salary.

Protected employees

An employee on family leave cannot be discussed on collective grounds unless the

whole business of the employer is closed. Further, a dismissal is deemed to have taken
place due to pregnancy or family leave, unless proved by employer.

Layoff

Legal grounds for terminating an employment contract on collective grounds

generally exist if both

 Work as diminished or been materially reduced due to economic or production

related reasons or due to the restricting of enterprise.
 The reduction of work is permanent
Collective Redundancy

The procedural requirement of providing employee representatives the necessary

information relating to the contemplated redundancies is a mandatory requirement
when the employer is considering serving notice of termination or lay-off for over 90
days, or reducing a contract of employment to a part time contract for over ten
employees. Were these plans affect less than 10 employees this procedure is optimal.
However, the employer must always issue the required information in writing at the
request of the employee or the representative of the personnel group concerned.
Referees

 Industrial Law of Srilanka

 Thomson Reuters (2019, February 01), Practical Law. The West Law from:
https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com