A law refers to rules of conduct of any organised society, however

simple or small, that are enforced with threat of punishment if

violated. (http://education.yahoo.com/refernce). By this definition,
people who govern society determine how individuals are
supposed to behave in their interactions and determinations, and
possible threat of punishment if these rules are not adhered to.
Labour refers to all wage earning workers as a group.
(www.yourdictionary.com/labor). It also refers to the term used to
refer to the effort performing of a task and for workers engaged in
an activity.
Labour laws therefore are the rules of conduct/ behaviour that have
been set by people who govern society, with the aim of protecting
and regulating those who perform tasks or are engaged in
activities.
In Uganda, there are many legislations dealing with human beings
in their capacity as workers or wage earners. I will critically
analyse the labour laws from the perspective of the employment
act and the workman’s compensation act as adopted from
Nakayima Maria (2006) and Atukwasa Justine. (1997),
respectively. I will analyse the employment act in the following
areas:-legislation on contracts, holidays and rest period, conditions
of work, women and children.

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Section 11 of the act talks about the contracts. That a contract of
service shall in writing if the work is six months or more, or for a
number of working days totalling to six months or more. In
practice, many educational institutions at both primary and
secondary level do not give employees contracts. Many teachers
are recruited and not given contracts which makes it easy for the
administrators to deny pay or even oppress the teachers since
he’d/she’d know that none of them is lawfully employed by the
school administration.
Section 29(2) talks about the probationary period of an employee.
That the probationary period shall not exceed a period of six
months in the first instance, but may with the agreement of the
employee be extended for a further period not exceeding six
months. This legislation is fair from the teacher’s perspective
because it would reduce on the oppression they receive from the
schools where they teach. This is because many of the teachers are
give probationary periods that are too long some even exceeding
two years. The headteachers or school owners ought to know that
when they put a teacher on probation, it should not exceed six
months or two school terms. Although this is fair to the teachers, it
laves employers on the back foot. There are those that believe that
six months is not period enough for a teacher to qualify to be
employed on permanent basis. There so many forgeries of

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academic documents at various levels and employee would also
need some long run time before he/she can confirm that the teacher
deserves to teach in that school. To test employees aspects of
morality, ethicality, and genuineness (all which are fundamentals in
education), an employee need not just six months, but more. So in
this aspect, the law oppresses the employer because it “forces” him
to employ people who have not been thoroughly been proved to fit
the billing.
Section 30 of the act talks about the protection of workers wages.
That wages must be paid in the legal tender currency, by cheque
where possible, with the employees consent. Many employees may
get cheated when not paid legal tender/foreign currency.
The section also talks about alternative forms of remuneration.
That the employer has the discretion depending on the power of
the trade unions (where it exists), to provide other forms of
remuneration. This can come in handy especially in the times of
inflation when the currency in which the employee is being paid
has depreciated or lost value. With a rise in inflation, it will mean
the payment received by the employee can buy less than it was
buying before the inflation cropped in. So giving the employees an
alternative for a form of employment will help them survive the
inflation to a great extent.

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Section 40 of the act talks about rest and holiday. It stipulates that
the normal working weekly hours shall not exceed 48 hours. The
normal daily work hours for an employee shall not exceed 9 hours
in industrial under takings, and 10 hours in any other form of
employment. Section 39 further elaborates. That employees
working for more than six hours a day are entitled to a one hour
break or more during the day, arranged so that the employee does
not work continuously for more than five hours. This all, will help
to reduce the stress that is caused by working for so long and not
getting a break.
In section 42, an employer is obliged to give an employee a
continuous break of at least 24 hours every week including
Sunday, where possible. In some boarding schools however,
teachers are not given these breaks. A teacher can teach from
Monday to Friday, attends to students house work on Saturday, and
supervise prayers on Sunday.
Section 43, 44, 25, talk about holidays in relation to wages. In
section 43, an employer must grant an employee with full pay at
the rate of at least one and a half working days for every month of
service. In section 44, an employee may take a holiday at such a
time as agreed between the employer and him/her. In section 45,
no agreement by the employee to relinquish his/her rights to
holidays, or agreement to fore go such may be made, and if is void.

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Whereas it is good that these laws give employees holidays, the
prevailing conditions of work in the Ugandan situation may make
it hard for the employer to give the employee such holidays. The
rising cost of business operations call for the employer to ask the
employees to work extra so that more returns come in. this extra
need for extra working makes it hard for the employers to give
such holidays to the employees lest the business looses sales.
Section 47 of the act talks about the issue of pregnant women at
work. That the employer shall permit her to leave work if she
produces a medical certificate, by a qualified medical practitioner.
The period of maternity leave shall be six weeks or 42 consecutive
days. This is good because after giving birth, a woman would need
some time to regain her normal strength and also breast feed the
baby for some time before taking the baby off breast milk, and
reporting back to work.
The work mans compensation act deals mainly with compensation
of the work man. It defines a work man as any person who has
entered into work under contract of service or apprenticeship with
an employer whether by way of manual labour or otherwise,
whether the contract is in express, implied or in writing, whether
remuneration is calculated by time or work done.
Section 2(2) talks about illegal contracts. Under this, an illegal
contract of service may be enforced by court only to grant injured

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work man compensation. This is however not adequate. It is better
to prevent the work man from dying, than to wait for his death and
then make his/her contract legal.
In section 2(3), the act stipulates that the dependents of the
deceased be compensated in case of the employee’s death. We can
witness this in action when the dependants of the deceased in the
recent collapse of the foundation of the NSSF site on Lumumba
avenue, were compensated by roko construction company.
However, it is not clear if those that perished in Naalya S.S. were
compensated.
Section 5 of the act talks about the conditions under which the
employee may not be compensated. It provides that any
employment injury arising out of accident in course of
employment, the employee is liable to pay. However, the employer
does not pay if the injury does not result into permanent /partial
incapacity ; does not incapacitate the worker for at least three
working days from earning wages; or is due to skilful and serious
misconduct by the work man . The interpretation here is that if the
work man gets and injury as a result of him/her misbehaving at
work, the employer is not legible to compensate that work man.
That in case the work man gets injured at work and that injury does
not last for three or more days, making the employee fail to work
,the employer does not compensate for that injury. This law is

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unfair because an injury will always cause pain and will always be
an injury and nothing else. Why shouldn’t the employer
compensate for that pain he/his work has caused to the work man?
Although this pitfall is there, the legislation provides some
protection to the worker who gets injured as result of the work, and
the injury lasts for more than three days. According to the
legislation this kind of work man will be compensated.
In section 6, when a work man leaves dependants, the amount of
compensation will be equal to 41 months salary or 29,000/= which
ever is less; and only if the dependants were wholly dependant on
the work man, is when court shall determine a “reasonable”
compensation. Only reasonable burial expenses not exceeding
500/= are payable by the employer. In the current Uganda,
compensation for death to be 29000/= or less is ridiculous. The
general price level has gone up of recent and this amount of money
may not be enough even to buy a coffin. There was also need to
further make it clear as to whom can be considered as wholly
dependent other than leaving it to the decision of the court. The
employer can contribute 500/= for burial of the employee. This
money can not even buy a litre of fuel for the vehicle to transport
the body of the deceased for burial.
Section 7 talks about the compensation in case of permanent
incapacity. That were there is permanent total incapacity resulting

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from injury, the amount of payment shall be 44 months earnings,
not below 250/= and not exceeding 3800/=. Additional payment
not exceeding half the amount of money payable may be made
where the injured work man must have constant help from another
person. Again here also, the amount of money payable is too little
considering the fact that the work man can no longer work and is
having permanent injury. Even in the case where the injured work
man finds that he or she needs help or support form another
person, the cost of having such a person to help the injured work
man may be high. The amount payable in terms of compensation to
the worker can hardly help in instances like these.
Section 25, the issue of the injury caused by the employer is
addressed. That where the injury is caused by the personal
negligence of the employer or the employers representative, the
work man is allowed to start proceedings to cover damages in a
civil court with out respect to the act. If this is done however, there
will be no subsequent hearings in case the court makes a
pronouncement on the issue. This is good because some unfaithful
work men may want to exploit the opportunity of getting
compensated both in court and after that. It also means that the
employee seeking compensation should only look at this court as a
last resort, when all other avenues have failed. This is because this
legislation does not allow you to be compensated again should the

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court pronounce it’s self on the matter. The legislation also throws
some responsibility on the part of the employer and the
representatives he/she uses. This is because, should an injury
happen to the work man as a result of their negligence, then they
will be liable to pay. Therefore they would take extra care not to
injure the work man.
Section 30 bars any work man from signing a contract with the
employer which forfeits his/her rights. This is good because there
are some employers who may not want to pay compensation to the
worker in case of injury and therefore lure/con the employees into
signing such an agreement. This legislation however comes to the
rescue of the work man by making it illegal for him to sign such
contracts and if signed will not be allowed as legal.
Section 31 and 35 talk about provision of medical treatment. In
section 31, medical attention must be paid for by the employer as a
result of an accident that would entitle the work man to
compensation. In section 35, if a work man contracts an
occupational disease 24 months before his/her death, the work man
or his dependants are entitled to compensation. These two sections
encourage the worker to work hard even in dangerous conditions
since he/ she will be know that there is compensation in case of
contracting a disease while at the work. This is important

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especially for medical personnel who’re often exposed to things
like blood pathogens.
www.doi.gov talks about the labour laws with regard to children.
That in the children’s statute no.6 (1999), children under 18yrs are
not allowed to be employed in work that may be harmful to their
health, education , mental , physical or moral development. It is
hard to follow this statute in the Uganda as we still see many child
labourers. The levels of poverty and income in the rural areas force
theses children to look for alternative ways of surviving other than
that which their parents can offer them.
Conclusively, the labour laws have considerably expanded workers
rights in Uganda. What remains to be seen is if these rights can be
realised by the majority of the workers especially those who are
illiterate and under employed.

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