LABOUR / EMPLOYMENT LAW

Goodmorning Steemians!🙋‍♂️
All other protocols meticulously and duly observed.🤲😍
Please take your time and read through for better understanding.🙏

    INTRODUCTION

As posited by Thomas Hobbes, "where there is no law, the society would be nasty, brutish and short". Thus various laws has be enacted by the various law making bodies to ensure there's orderliness and equality in the society.
In Nigeria, the legislature (i.e the National house of assembly and state houses of assembly) by virtue of section 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2018) has been saddled with the power and authority to make laws to regulate all sectors.
The Labour sector is not left out as the Labour sector is basically guided by the Labour Law.
In this post, I would adumbrate and explicate where necessary the definition and scope of Labour Law and as well its sources.

Source

   DEFINITION OF LABOUR LAW

The Labour Law also Known as Employment Law or Industrial Law is the prevailing law in the Labour sector.
As a subject matter, it is succinctly and pungently defined as that aspect of law which governs employment relationship or engagement of dependent labour. It refers to those extant rules and regulations which ensure smooth employment relationship between an employer and his worker.
The Labour Law makes sure that there's no form of fraud, cheating, or ill-treatment of either of the parties(i.e worker and employer) in an employment relationship.

      SCOPE OF LABOUR LAW

The study of Labour Law is basically concerned with the following:
~formation of contract of employment
~terms of the contract of employment
~duties of the parties
~termination of the contract of employment
(A bit confused right?🤔🙄😁 Don't worry will discuss the above 4 scopes explicitly in my subsequent posts one after the other because they are so vast.)
The Labour Law also covers other areas like regulatory interventions made by the government to checkmate employment relationships. Such regulations over health,safety at work, injury benefits, occupational pension scheme, trade unions, etc.

    SOURCES OF LABOUR LAW

The Labour Law in Nigeria like other laws have numerous sources from which it was formulated, enacted and promulgated. However, the major sources of Labour Law in Nigeria include the following:
i. The Nigerian Legislation
ii. The Received English Law
III. Case Law/Judicial Precedent
iv. The International Labour Law
v. Collective bargaining and agreements

1. NIGERIAN LEGISLATION
   Legislation refers to laws enacted by the Legislature. The legislative houses in Nigeria being the Senate and House of Representatives (jointly called national assembly) and the various state assemblies.
   Some of the relevant legislations in Labour Law are; the labour act, factories act, employees compensation act, trade dispute act, trade unions act.
   Also, under the exclusive list, Part 1, Second schedule to the 1999 Constitution provisions for Labour Law were made.
   Thus, the above legislations make up the Labour Law.

2. THE RECEIVED ENGLISH LAW
   During colonialism, certain English laws were introduced into Nigeria.
   English law here means laws made in England by their parliament through the authorization of the Queen.
   However after colonialism, Nigeria having become accustomed to those English laws domesticated and adopted some of its provisions as valid, recognized and enforceable laws in Nigeria.
   As Nigeria Customary laws expressly made no provisions for employment relationships, the English Laws on labour relations were adopted into the Nigerian legal system.

3. CASE LAW
   Case law also know as Judicial Precedent is a veritable source of Nigerian laws.
   Case law simply means judge made laws i.e legal principles established by judges in the course of adjudicating a case. These principles are there by followed by other judges when a similar matter is brought before the court.
   For example: Okon was employed by Adamu and the latter refused paying him salaries for 3 months. Okon goes to court and the court holds that: Adamu should pay him the owed salaries with compensation fee too.
   Then subsequently, another employee is owed 2months by his employer and he goes to court too. The court would definitely follow the decision in Okon's case. Thus the Doctrine of Judicial Precedent.
   (Understood right?🤔🙄😁 Don't worry, might make a lucid and explicating post on Judicial Precedent someday🙏)

4. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR LAW
   Since the issue of Labour relations is a global phenomenon, the International Labour Organization (ILO) was formed. Its constitution and treaties as well as the ILO conventions and protocols ratified by member-states constitute binding international employment principles and standards.
   These serve as a sources of Labour Law.

5. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND AGREEMENTS
   Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between an employer or group of employers and trade unions which is designated to arrive a collective agreement.
   The series of meetings, negotiations, and agreements between the Federal government on one hand and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is a good example.
   These bargains and agreements serve as sources of Labour Law.

CONCLUSION
The Labour/Employment Law is the law which regulates employment relationships.
Its scope covers formation of Contract of employment, its terms, duties of he parties and termination of the contract.

As earlier promised I would take turns to explain the above mentioned scopes of Labour Law one after the other in my subsequent posts.

Please do follow up for more.
Don't forget to drop a comment below or ask any question, I'd would be most obliged to give you answers.
Thank you for reading.🤝
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