Section 175 - Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

"arbitrator" includes a panel of arbitrators;

"Centre" means a Public Employment Centre established under section 2 of this Act;

"Commission" means the National Labour Commission established under section 135 of this Act;

"contract of employment" means a contract of service whether express or implied, and if express whether oral or in writing;

"District Committee" means a District Labour Committee of the Commission;

"domestic worker" means a person who is not a member of the family of a person who employs him or her as househelp;

"employer" means any person who employs a worker under a contract of employment;

"employers' organisation" means any organisation of employers established by employers the principal purposes of which are the representation and promotion of employers' interests and the regulation of relations between employers and workers and which is registered under section 84 of this Act;

"essential services" includes areas in an establishment where an action could result in a particular or total loss of life or pose a danger to public health and safety and such other services as the Minister may by legislative instrument determine;

"industrial dispute" means any dispute between an employer and one or more workers or between workers and workers which relates to the terms and conditions of employment, the physical condition in which workers are required to work, the employment and non-employment or termination or suspension of employment of one or more workers and the social and economic interests, of the workers but does not include any matter concerning the interpretation of this Act, a collective agreement or contract of employment or any matter which by agreement between the parties to a collective agreement or contract of employment does not give cause for industrial action or lockout;

"lockout" means the closing of a workplace, the suspension of work by an employer or refusal by an employer to employ or re-engage any number of his or her workers, in consequence of an industrial dispute;

"manual labour" means any work performed by hands or physical labour;

"medical practitioner" means a medical practitioner registered under the Medical and Dental Decree, 1972 (NRCD 91) or any other law for the time being in force;

"midwife" means a midwife registered under the Nurses and Midwives Decree, 1972 (NRCD 117) and does not include a Traditional Births Attendant;

"Minister" means the Minister assigned responsibility for Labour;

"person with disability" means an individual who, on account of injury, disease or congenital deformity, is substantially handicapped in obtaining or keeping employment or in engaging, in any work on his or her own account, of a kind which apart from that injury, disease or deformity would be suited to his or her age, experience and qualification;

"picketing" means the action whereby workers outside a place of work intend to persuade other workers not to enter the place of employment during labour unrest;

"Private Employment Agency" means any body corporate which acts as an intermediary for the purpose of procuring employment for a worker or recruiting a worker for an employer;

"Regional Committee" means a Regional Labour Committee of the Commission;

"remuneration" includes the basic or minimum wage or salary and any additional emoluments payable directly or indirectly by the employer to the worker on account of the worker's employment;

"repatriation expenses" includes—

(a) subsistence and travelling expenses of the worker and accompanying members of his or her family during the journey to and from the place of employment; and

(b) subsistence expenses during the period, if any between the date of expiration of the contract and the date of repatriation;

"sexual harassment" means any unwelcome, offensive or importunate sexual advances or request made by an employer or superior officer or a co-worker to a worker, whether the worker is a man or woman;

"standing joint negotiating committee" means a body consisting of representatives of two or more trade unions and one or more trade unions and employer's representative established for purposes of collective bargaining and is authorised by or on behalf of those trade unions and employers' representatives to enter into collective agreements on their behalf;

"strike" means any action by two or more workers acting in concert which is intended by them to restrict in any way the service they normally provide to the employer or diminish the output of such service with a view to applying coercive pressure upon the employer and includes sympathy strike and those activities commonly called a work-to-rule, a go slow or a sit down strike;

"task worker" means a person who performs a piece of work for a fee;

"trade union" means any association of workers the principal purposes of which are to promote and protect their economic and social interests and which is registered under section 84 of this Act and includes a federation of trade unions registered under this Act;

"undertaking" includes the business of any employer;

"worker" means a person employed under a contract of employment whether on a continuous, part-time, temporary or casual basis;

"workplace" includes any place where a worker needs to be or to go by reason of his or her work which is under the direct or indirect control of the worker;

"young person" means a person of or above 18 years of age but below 21 years.