TOPIC 1

INTRODUCTION TO LABOUR LAW

& ETHICS
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this session, you should be able to
understand:
1.1.Analyse the origins and sources of Labor Law
1.2.Explore the significance of Labor law, examine its
interpretation & application
1.3. Examine Ethics & its application, and explore its
relationship/relevance with Labor law
1.4. Describe and analyze the evolution of Labor Law
1.5. Compare & contrast the different theoretical
perspectives in Labor Law

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 WHAT IS LABOR LAW?
‘Labor law (or ‘labor’ or employment law) is the body of
laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address
the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and
their organization’ (Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Body of laws that applies to matters such as employment,
wages, conditions of work, labor unions, and labor-
management relations’ (Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
‘Labor law deals with employees and employers and the
relationship between them’ (Wikipedia, the free
Encyclopedia)
‘Labor laws covers the relationship between group of
3 employees, organized as unions, and employers’
 1.1. Analyze the origins and sources of Labor Law
 The origins of labor law can be traced back to the remote past
and the most varied parts of the world.

 Labor law as it is known today is essentially the child of

successive industrial revolutions from the 18th century onward.

 It became necessary when customary restraints and the intimacy

of employment relationships in small communities ceased to
provide adequate protection against the abuses incidental to new
forms of mining and manufacture on a rapidly increasing scale at
precisely the time when the 18th-century Enlightenment, the
French Revolution, and the political forces that they set in
motion were creating the elements of the modern social
conscience.
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 1.1. Analyze the origins and sources of Labor Law

It developed rather slowly, chiefly in the more

industrialized countries of western Europe, during the 19th
century and attained its present importance, relative
maturity, and worldwide acceptance only during the 20th
century.

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 1.1. Analyze the origins and sources of Labor Law

The Labor law in Fiji is regulated mainly by the

Employment Relations Act of 2007 (last amended as of
2020).
The Act governs the terms and conditions of employment
such as working hours, holidays, rest periods, wages,
overtime, leave and termination of employment, etc.
The other regulations that govern labor relationships are
the Employment (Administrative) Relations Regulations of
2008 and the Employment Relations (National Minimum
Wage) Regulations of 2015.
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 1.2. Explore the significance of Labor law, examine
its interpretation & application
The Labor law acts as a tool to promote worker
empowerment as well as worker protection. It regulates
individual and collective employment relations. Other
relevant legislation includes Constitutional law, the civil
code, the criminal code as well as the supranational ILO
Conventions.

Labor law aims to correct the imbalance of power between

the worker and the employer; to prevent the employer
from dismissing the worker without good cause; to set up
and preserve the processes by which workers are
recognized as 'equal' partners in negotiations about their
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working conditions etc.
 1.2. Explore the significance of Labor law, examine
its interpretation & application
Labor law aims to prevent a race to the bottom by placing
restrictions on the contracting partners’ freedom to
contract on whatever terms they wish, and setting
minimum standards over safety and pay.

Labor law also regulates the labor market: a country may

choose to put legislation in place setting maximum or
minimum limits on wages or working hours, either
nationally or in particular sectors or industries.

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 1.3. Examine Ethics & its application, and explore its
relationship/relevance with Labor law
What is ethics?
Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong
that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms
of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or
specific virtues.

It is written guidelines issued by an organization to its

workers and management, to help them conduct their
actions in accordance with its primary values and ethical
standards

9 Ethics is not law, it compliments Labor law

 1.3. Examine Ethics & its application, and explore
its relationship/relevance with Labor law
It has been said that the relationship of ethics and law
considers that conscience is the guardian in the
individual (ethics) for the rules which the community has
evolved for its own preservation (law).
There are limits to the law.
The law cannot make people honest, caring, or fair.
For example lying, or betraying a confidence, is not
illegal but it is unethical.
While not every physical therapy practice act requires
adherence to a code of ethics, all do require adherence to
the law.
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 1.4. Describe and analyze the evolution of Labor
Law
1996
 Ministerial summit of WTO in Singapore
 Renewed commitment to observance of internationally recognized labor
standards
 Majority of WTO members are members of the ILO
1974
 Fiji ratified Convention 98 (1949) – Right to organize
 Convention 87 (1948) - Freedom of association
1991
 New labor law developed following pressure from ILO/WTO respectively
 LL got worsened particularly situation for workers
 New restrictions introduced on the right to strike, recognition of TU, check
off system eliminated
 ILO recommendation, LL not improved and called for government
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intervention
 1.4. Describe and analyze the evolution of Labor
Law
1994
 Government introduced selective and minor amendments to LL (1991)
 Tripartite Body (TB) formed to look at the LL
 TB reached a consensus & deliberated after 4 years with recommendation
for LL reform
1997
 ILO began consideration of fresh evidence of non-respect of freedom of
association in Fiji
 Evidence of violation of trade unions rights rife in Fiji
1997
 Cabinet formally decided to ignore the recommendation from TB
 ICFTU (international confederation of Free Trade Unions) introduced
complaint to ILO concerning Fiji’s violation of TU rights
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1.4. Describe and analyze the evolution of Labor Law
2007
Amalgamation of the laws
1. Employment Act (Cap92)
2. Trade Disputes Act (Cap.97)
3. Wages Council Act (Cap.98)
4. Trade Union Act (Cap.96)
5. Trade Union (Recognition Act) (Cap 96A)
6. Public Holiday Act (Cap.101)
Amendments - Workmen's Compensation Act and OHS
Act  
New law - Employment Relations Act 2008
13Further amendments in 2015, 2016, 2021 and March 2022.
 1.5. Compare & contrast the different theoretical
perspectives in Labor Law
 The discipline of labor law is defined in part by its subject-
matter; in part by its intellectual tradition
 Labor Law’s immediate subject-matter consists of rules which
govern the employment relations
 A broader perspective sees labor law as the normative
framework for the existence and operation of all institution of
the labor market
 This labor market comprise: the business enterprise, trade
unions, employers’ associations and, in its capacity as
regulator and employer, the state
 The starting point for analysis is the existence of the
14 employment relationship as a distinct economic and legal
 1.5. Compare & contrast the different theoretical
perspectives in Labor Law
Labor law stems from the idea of subordination of the
individual worker to the capitalist enterprise
Labor law is concerned with how these relationships are
constituted, a role which in common law systems is
accorded primarily to contract
How they are regulated, a role shared by common law
and social legislation but also by extra legal sources such
as collective bargaining and workplace custom and
practices
Its scope accordingly extends from the individual to the
15 collective, from the contract of employment to relations
 1.5. Compare & contrast the different theoretical
perspectives in Labor Law
Further, its scope also includes the conduct and resolution
of conflict between them
The intellectual tradition referred to above sees labor law
as unified discipline which has outgrown its diverse
origins in the law of obligations and in the regulatory
intervention of the state
As a subject with its own doctrinal unity and structure, it
spans the divide between common law and legislation,
and between private law and public law
In Britain, as elsewhere in Europe including other
16 Commonwealth nations, labor law has established itself as
QUESTIONS?