The Constitution of Pakistan contains a range of provisions with regards to labour rights
found in Part II: Fundamental Rights and Principles of Policy.
Article 11 of the Constitution prohibits all forms of slavery, forced labour and child
labour;
Article 18 proscribes the right of its citizens to enter upon any lawful profession or
occupation and to conduct any lawful trade or business;
Article 25 lays down the right to equality before the law and prohibition of
discrimination on the grounds of sex alone;
Article 37(e) makes provision for securing just and humane conditions of work,
ensuring that children and women are not employed in vocations unsuited to their
age or sex, and for maternity benefits for women in employment.
The Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Order) Ordinance 1968 (adopted
in 2012, applicable in Punjab);
Contract of Employment
While Article 18 of the Constitution affords every citizen with the right to enter upon any
lawful profession or occupation, and to conduct any lawful trade or business, the
Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance was enacted in
1968 to address the relationship between employer and employee and the contract of
employment. The Ordinance applies to all industrial and commercial establishments
throughout the country employing 20 or more workers and provides for security of
employment. In the case of workers in other establishments, domestic servants, farm
workers or casual labour engaged by contractors, their labour contracts are generally
unwritten and can be enforced through the courts on the basis of oral evidence or past
practice.
In accordance with Standing Order 12 of the ICEO, 1968, either party may terminate an
employment contract after giving one-month notice prior to contract termination. If one-
month notice is not served, a worker must be paid one-month wages in lieu of notice. It
is important to remember that only permanent workers are required to give (and be
served notice) before terminating employment contract. Temporary workers, badlis
(alternate employee working in place of an absent permanent worker or probationer) and
probationers are not entitled to any notice (or in pay in lieu thereof) if their services are
to be terminated. Similarly, they are not required to serve a notice before leaving
employer.
Similar provisions are found in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial and Commercial
Employment (Standing Order) Act 2013 (Standing Order 17) and the the Sindh Terms of
Employment (Standing Orders) Act 2015 (Standing Order 16).
Termination can also be categorized in the following three categories. The first type is
“automatic termination” where an employment contract is terminated automatically in
circumstances such as death of an employee or completion of the project/end of contract
for which a worker was hired. Second is termination of employment by the employee
through resignation. An employee may resign from employment to avail some better
work opportunity or when the work circumstances are not supportive and there is
material breach of contract on the part of employer. Third is the termination initiated by
an employer, which may be based on fair or unfair grounds.
On what grounds can an employer terminate a contract of employment?
Standing Orders Ordinance requires a written employment termination letter stating
explicitly reasons for termination. This is applicable to both termination simpliciter
(under S.O. 12) and dismissal on the ground of misconduct (under S.O. 15). Although
above law requires employer to state reasons for termination, it does not prescribe any
reasons for which employment relationship may be rightfully terminated (fair grounds
for dismissal). Case law has established some acceptable and valid reasons for
employment termination (other than misconduct), which include “serious illness,
inefficiency to perform the job, financial and economic needs of establishment”.
Working Hour
Know more about labour laws of working hours and overtime pay in Pakistan. According
to the law, your normal working hours per day are 8-9 hours and these should not be
more than 48 hours per week. By including the lunch and prayer time in hours of work,
working hours should not be greater than 9 hours a day.
Over Time
2 hours/day (on some days, it may extend to three hours)
The maximum weekly overtime hours are 12 hours. Keeping that weekly limit, workers
may work 2-3 hours overtime while considering the above spread over limits. The total
yearly overtime work hours should also not exceed 624 hours. Moreover, you should also
be aware that lunch breaks and rest intervals are unpaid time, so you will not be receiving
any remuneration for this. You also need to know that if you are a young person (your
age is greater than 14 but less than 17 years), you can be required to work 1.5 hours a day
overtime but your total overtime hours in a year can’t exceed 468 hours. If you are a
woman, you can work only up to 10:00 pm and this is only in the condition if the
employer arranges transport for pick up and drop facility. Women workers are not
allowed to work more than 9 hours in any day (this included lunch and rest).
What is the overtime pay and how I become eligible for it?
Every employee in a factory, except those employed solely in a clerical capacity in any room
or place where no manufacturing process is being carried on (applicable in Balochistan,
KPK, Punjab and ICT) or executive/managerial capacity (applicable in all provinces) is
eligible for the overtime pay. If you work for more than 8 hours in a day or more than 48
hours in a week (while working in a non-seasonal factory), you are eligible for this
extra/overtime pay. If you are working in a seasonal factory, you can't be eligible for
overtime rate of pay unless you work for more than 50 hours in a week. The rate of
overtime pay is double the ordinary rate of pay. You are under obligation to work
overtime whenever (so, it is not voluntary) the employer requires you to do so. However,
in case you can't perform overtime work you are supposed to offer sufficient
causes/reasons regarding your inability to do so.
The same rules are applicable if you are employed under Mines Act or Newspaper
Employees Act or Road Transport Workers Ordinance. However, if you are employed
under Railways Act, and in case of exceptional pressure of work you will be paid
overtime not lower than one and a quarter time (1.25) your ordinary rate of pay.
All terminations of service in any form must be documented in writing stating the reasons
for such an act. If a worker is aggrieved by an order of termination he or she may proceed
under Section 46 of the Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002, aimed at regulating the
labour-management relations in the country, and bring his or her grievance to the
attention of his or her employer, in writing, either him or herself, through the shop
steward or through his or her trade union within three months of the occurrence of the
cause of action. Forms of termination have been described as removed, retrenched,
discharged or dismissed from service. To safeguard against any colorful exercise of
power, victimization or unfair labour practices, the Labour Courts have been given
powers to examine and intervene to find out whether there has been a violation of the
principles of natural justice and whether any action by the employer was bonafide or
unjust.
Working hours
Under the Factories Act, 1934 no adult employee, defined as a worker who has completed
his or her 18th year of age, can be required or permitted to work in any establishment in
excess of nine hours a day and 48 hours a week. Similarly, no young person, under the
age of 18, can be required or permitted to work in excess of seven hours a day and 42
hours a week. The Factories Act, which governs the conditions of work of industrial
labour, applies to factories, employing ten or more workers. The Provincial Governments
are further empowered to extend the provisions of the Act, to even five workers.
Where the factory is a seasonal one, an adult worker shall work no more than fifty hours
in any week and no more than ten hours in any day. A seasonal factory, per section 4 of
the Factories Act is that which is exclusively engaged in one or more of the following
manufacturing processes, namely, cotton ginning, cotton or cotton jute pressing, the
manufacture of coffee, indigo, rubber, sugar or tea. However, if such adult worker in a
factory is engaged in work, which for technical reasons must be continuous throughout
the day, the adult worker may work no more than fifty-six hours in any week.
Section 8 of the West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969 likewise,
restricts weekly work hours at 48 hours. The Shops and Establishments Ordinance
regulates persons employed in shops and commercial establishments, who are neither
covered by the Factories Act nor by the Mines Act. The Ordinance is exclusive in the
whole of Pakistan except for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Section 22-B of the
Mines Act, 1923 also fixes weekly hours of work for workers at 48 hours or 8 hours each
day, with the limitation of spread-over 12 hours and interval for rest for one hour every
six hours. Section 22-C further limits the spread-over to 8 hours for work done below
ground level.
In factories, the periods and hours of work for all classes of workers in each shift must be
notified and posted in a prominent place in the principal language in the industrial or
commercial establishment. The law further provides that no worker shall be required to
work continuously for more than six hours, unless he or she has had an interval for rest
or meals of at least one hour.
During Ramadan (fasting month), special reduced working hours are observed in
manufacturing, commercial and service organizations.
Paid Leave
As provided in the Factories Act, 1934, every worker who has completed a period of
twelve months continuous service in a factory shall be allowed, during the subsequent
period of twelve months, holidays for a period of fourteen consecutive days. If a worker
fails in any one such period of twelve months to take the whole of the holidays allowed
to him or her, any holidays not taken by him or her shall be added to the holidays allotted
to him or her in the succeeding period of twelve months.
a) Laws that regulate the relations between an employer and an employee. These are
governed by the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 2003.
b) Laws that require contributions to be paid by the employers; they are:
• Employees Old Age Benefits Act,1976
The procedure for registration under various labor laws is different. In case of federal
government laws such as EOBI the federal labor department while in case of provincial
government laws, the provincial labor departments regulate the procedure for
registration of under the labor laws.
Pakistan joined the ILO in 1947. Until July 2004 it had ratified 34 ILO Conventions , of
which 33 were in force for the country.
https://www.ilr.org.pk/labour-laws/#1514534839784-92a25ad9-a6b7
further reading
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/134190-Terms-of-employment
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gratuity-law-pakistan-muhammad-faisal/