LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

LAW
BY.BARISO DUKALE
 INTRODUCTION
• Definition and Nature of Labor Law
• is a branch of law that sets rules of law governing an
individual employment relationship between
employee(s) and employer and determining the rights
and obligations of the parties thereto by prescribing
minimum standard working conditions, and/or also
governing collective labor/employment relations by
establishing conducive legal frame-work for collective
bargaining or for other concerted activity so as to
enable the parties to obtain better terms and conditions
than the minimum set by the law
 Nature of Labor Law
A.Tripartism:- Tripartite Nature of the Relationship at all Levels/Dimensions
• is not a simple bilateral relation between employer and employees, but a
sophisticated tripartite interaction at different levels between employees,
employers, associations, and Government (in all its three capacities, i.e. legislative,
judiciary, and executive).
B. Inherent Conflicts
These four different parties have their own various interests building the
core element of the relationship supposed to be governed by Labor
Law. These conflicting interests in this relationship are as follows:-

 Employer desires to attain maximum control, optimum productivity,

cooperation from the relationship, etc…
 Employees want compensation, protection, satisfaction, career
development, etc…
 Unions want participation and representation in management
decisions.
 The subject matters of Employment & Labor Law

 Individual employment Relations:- employment relationship between

workers and employers (i.e. contract of employment);
 Collective Labor Relations:- the area of collective bargaining
between unions and employers, and the legal effect of collective
agreement on individual employment contract;
 Minimum Standard Conditions:- statutory control of certain
conditions of employment by law;
 Industrial Conflicts:- establishing rules concerning strike, lock-out,
and other concerted activities;
 Unions ship and Associations:- setting rules for status and
membership of unions and associations and also for their activity;
and
 Role of Government:- providing for the legal frame-work for the role
of the government (in all its capacities) in the above relationships.
C. Dynamic Nature
 most dynamic and responsive to changing social and
economic nature
D. Derivative Law vs Autonomous Law
 An Autonomous Law (relatively independent law and
comprehensive and having its own peculiar natures) or a
Derivative Law (dependent on other autonomous laws and
having its bases on the basic principles of other existing
laws).
 However, the commonly accepted position is that Labor
Law is largely a Derivative law, i.e. it is a mixture of various
other established fields of laws such as contract, tort, equity,
E. Social Laws vs. Labor Law?
 Social law can be defined that body of rules of
law aimed at promoting the general welfare of
all the people at large, while Labor law is
restricted only to a certain segment of the
general public
• Both Labor Law and Social Law share the same
objective, i.e. promotion of social justice.
• Social law is the broadest concept
• Labor Law is part of Social Law, and it is by
nature social law
The basic differences between the two types of laws are said to
be:-
i. Labor Law seeks to improve the well-being of the labor in
particular, but Social law aims to promote the welfare of
society in general;
ii. Labor Law deals with subjects of proximate and direct
interest to workers (like wages, hours of work, etc…), while
Social Law deals with matters of remote or indirect interest
to workers (e.g. employee compensation, social security,
etc…); and
iii. Labor Law provides benefits to active employees, while
Social law for those whose employment is interrupted by
sickness, disability, death, retirement, etc…).
 Private Law vs. Public Law Dichotomy?
• In modern western jurisprudence, Labor Law has still both
Private and Public law characters, and thus it contains
rules of public and private laws, and also rules of public
order. Because of this unique nature in it, we can not
categorize Labor Law to either of the two or we can
neither create a third nature for it- it is just its own unique
nature having both qualities simultaneously.
 Sources of Labor Law in Ethiopia
• Primary sources(to which courts are bound to refer to base their
decisions of law or binding and governing ) and Secondary
sources of laws(are neither binding nor governing, but courts can
refer to them for the purpose of interpreting the provisions of the
law as necessary without being bound to do so)
• Primary source of law is further divided in to two, i.e. Source of
Authority and Material Sources.
• Primary Sources of Employment/Labor Law
I.Sources of Authority
 The FDRE Constitution Article 55(1) and (3).
 The FDRE Constitution Article 9(4), endorsing International
Laws as part and parcel of Ethiopian Laws.
 Proclamation No. 377/03 (e.g. Article 3(3))
 Proclamation No. 454/97, giving power to the Federal Cassation
Supreme Court to issue binding rulings on points of legal issues.
ii. Material Sources
 The FDRE Constitution (e.g. Article 42.)
 Private Employment Agency Proclamation no. 104/1998
 Proclamation No. 377/03 (& its Amendment Proc. No.
494/06), and other relevant Proclamations or Regulations
governing Employment Relations.
 ILO Conventions ratified by Ethiopia
 Federal Civil Servants Proc. No. 515/2007
 Cassation Supreme Court Decisions on Points of Legal
Issues will have binding effect as a law on all other
subsequent court cases as per Proclamation No. 454/97.
 Administrative Laws or Directives, enacted per powers
given by a Proclamation or Regulation.
B. Secondary Sources of Law
 Custom, equity, good faith…..Article 1713 of the Civil Code.
 Legislative reports, minutes, hearings, and debates.
 Other court decisions.
 Arbitral or board decisions
Scope of Application of Employment law
 Regarding scope of application, the lawmaker might determine the
scope of application of a certain law either by way of Inclusion or
Exclusion.
 The Inclusion approach may be used when there is a fear that the
definition part of the law does not cover some categories (eg.
Article 3(3)(a) & (b)).
 On the other hand, the Exclusion approach might be used when the
definition part covers the categories but when the lawmaker wants
to exclude them (e.g. Art. 3(2)).
• There are basically three types of Exclusions; namely,
(1) Direct/Explicit Exclusion (example: Art. 3(2)),
(2) Conditional Exclusion (example: Art. 3(3)(a) & (b), Art.
46(4)) {home workers}, and
(3) Partial Exclusions (exemple: Articles 11(4), 51(5), 65, 72,
etc.)
 The rationales behind Exclusions of some categories of
employees from Employment/labor law might be one of
the following four factors:-
1. Social Objective: irrespective of profit-orientation.
Example: Art. 3(2)(a);
2. Special Purpose of the relationship: example- Art. 3(2)(b);
3. Non Profit Orientation: exemple-Art.3 (2)(d) & (e);
4. Status of the Employee: example- Articles 3(2)(c) & (e).
 It is important to note that the definition of civil Servants under
the Federal Civil Servants Proc. No. 515/2007 excludes the
following categories:-
 Government officials like state minister, deputy director general
& equivalent;
 Members of House of Peoples’ Representatives, House of the
Federation;
 Judges and prosecutors;
 The Armed forces, the Police force;
 Daily laborers;
 Internships and trainees;
 Independent contractors;
 Part-time employees with special skills and ability; and
 Those excluded from the proclamation by other appropriate laws
 2.Individual Employment Relations

• Formation of Contract of Employment in our Labour

Proclamation No. 377/03
A. Capacity: Article 89(2) of the Proclamation allows a person who
attained 14 years old to engage in contract of employment.
 This is exception to the rule in the civil code, and the rationale
behind is the prevailing socio-economic situation, i.e. there might
be situations where minors under 18 years old will be employed
and it is necessary to protect them.
 This exception is also in line with ILO Minimum Age Convention
no. 138 (1973), which Ethiopia ratified, and it allows for
employment of a minor up to 15 years old. However, this
Convention exceptionally allows for developing countries to come
up with their own laws to reduce the minimum age limit up to 14
years based on their own factual situations and after consultation
B. Object: Regarding object of employment contract, Article 4(2) of
the Proclamation provides that contract of employment shall be
stipulated clearly and in such manner as that the parties are left
with no uncertainty as to their rights and obligations.
 Besides, Article 4(4) prohibits the conclusion of an employment
contract for the performance of unlawful and immoral activities.
These two rules are in line with the general contract principles.
However, two important issues might be raised: (1) since the
Labor law does not provide for the effect of non-compliance of
these rules, what will be the effect of not complying with these
rules? Can we refer to the general contract principle of the Civil
Code to see their effects? Can we apply the rule of Article 8 by
analogy to protect the rights of the worker even in the case of such
non-compliance? and (2) Article 4(4) does not apparently prohibit
impossible activities unlike civil code Art.1715. Does such
omission mean that an employment contract can be concluded for
• Form:-Article 5 provides that unless otherwise
provided by law, a contract of employment shall not be
subject to any special form.
• “Unless otherwise provided by law” here refers to
cases like apprenticeship contracts (Art. 48(3),
agreement for probation (Art. 11(3)), etc…
 The rationale of the law for not requiring special form
seems to be for the protection of the weaker party (i.e.
the worker) because the effect of non-compliance to
form requirement under Article 1720(1) is severe, i.e.
non-existence of a valid contract.
 Even for contracts not-made in writing, Article-7(1) imposes an obligation on
the employer to confirm the details of the employment in writing within 15
days period.
 See this rule in line with Article 8. On the other hand, sub-article (2) of
Article-7 provides an exception to the principle of general contracts which
states that “ ”, and imposes obligation on the worker to react within 15 days.
• The contents of employment should be as listed down under Arts.
4(3) and 6(1)-(4). The legal effect of non-compliance as to content
of employment contract is provided under Article 8, i.e. non-
compliance thereof shall not affect the worker. In this connection,
Article 4(5) provides for the minimum working condition
requirement and the contract of employment shall not lay down
less favorable conditions for the employee than those provided
for by law, collective agreement or work rules.
• Apparently, the law on this point does not clearly provide for a rule as to
what will be the legal effect of deviating from this principle.
• However, it can be logically argued that since the wording of Article 4(5)
is mandatory it seems that an agreement deviating from the minimum
conditions set by law or collective agreement or work rules will not have
legal effect and thus the worker can challenge same at any point in time.
Formation of Contract of Employment in the Federal Civil Service
Proc. No. 515/2007 (FCSP)
 The Federal Civil Service Proclamation no. 515/2007 does not have any
provision dealing with contract of employment. It seems from the overall
legal framework of the Proclamation that employment terms and
conditions of civil servants are standardized and uniform in all
government institutions.
 So, since such terms and conditions of civil service will be as will be
determined by government regulations and directives there is no need to
make individual employment contract.
 But, a letter of (Article 18(1) and (Article 21) will
be given to the civil servant, and thus we can
consider these letters as reflecting the terms of the
parties agreement.
 Requirements for eligibility for civil servants is
clearly provided under on offenses of breach of
trust, theft, or fraud; and (3) willingness to take
oath of fidelity.
 Duration of Employment Contract in the Two Legal Regimes

Types: there are four relevant types of durations in employment

contract in our Labor Law:-
1.Indefinite period (Art.9).
2.Definite Period (Art. 10).
3.Piece Work (Art.10).
4.Probation Period (Art. 11(1)).
: Contract of employment for indefinite period is by legal presumption
(Art. 9). In this connection, the legal issue that might arise is with
regard to , i.e. who is responsible to prove his/her/its respective
allegation? For example, let us take a worker who alleges that
his/her employment contract is for indefinite period while he/she has
already signed an employment contract for definite period. Do you
think he/she should prove their allegation? Why?
 According to the general principle of evidence law, a person who alleges
a fact will have a burden of proof to prove his/her allegation. In view of
this general principle, we can say that the worker should prove that
he/she has been employed for or that the job for which he/she is
employed has a continuity nature.
 However, the drafting of the rules in our Labor Law seem to dictate
otherwise, i.e. Article 9 of the Proclamation provides a legal presumption
stating that “ indefinite period except for those provided for under Article
10 hereunder.”
 So, according to this legal presumption any contract of employment is
presumed to be made for an indefinite period and thus the person who
alleges this fact will not be expected to prove it as it is already presumed
to be so by law.
 On the contrary, the person who alleges that the contract of employment
is for definite period or for piece work is expected to prove this fact (see
the case of Ethiopian Telecommunication vs. W/rt. Tigist Worku,
2.Definite Employment Contract
 There are arguments for and against definite period
employment contract.
 Those who argue in favor of definite period
employment contract raise the issues of flexibility for
the employer to plan according to employees will have
jfor definite period, employers will have or the definite
period employees will have various career
developments, etc….
 On the other hand, those who argue against definite
period employment contract raise these issues like afor
definite period, employees on definite period tend to be
less likely to join labor unions.
3.
: this is not strictly speaking a period because there is no as
such a specified or definite period to be set for piece
works.
 This type of contract of employment is acknowledged in
the law under Article 10(1) (a), where it is provided that
contract of employment can be concluded for piecework
in the case of the performance of specified piece work.
 The important term in this provision is that the piece
work to be done by the worker should be specified and it
is not relevant for a period to be fixed here.
 So, as long as there is a specified piece work, then the
contract of employment will exist until the time the piece
3.: the purpose is for testing the worker’s suitability for the post (Art. 11(1)).
 The form should be (Art. 11(3).
 If the agreement is not made in writing as required by relevant law, then it
can not be considered as a valid agreement and thus the matter will be
interpreted in the worker’s favor as if there is no probation period agreement.
This is for the protection of the worker.
 So, it is always necessary to make sure that probation period has been agreed
formally in writing, with minimum of 2 witnesses.
 There are two legal limitations; namely, (1) for maximum period of 45 days
(Art. 11(3)) and (2) prohibition of re-employment on probation basis for the
same job.
 Here a legal issue might arise as to what the law means by “same job”? Is it
referring to the job description of the job or to the title? Is it referring to
absolutely the same job or to generally similar job? Example: an attorney
who had been employed for debt recovery section of a Bank, can he/she be
re-employed on probation basis as an attorney for general civil litigation
section, which deals with cases wherein the Bank is a defendant
 Article 11(4) provides that unless otherwise provided by law or
collective agreement or work rules, a worker on probation will have
same rights and obligations.
Example, Article 39 provides that for a worker to be entitled for severance
pay he/she shall complete probation period;
 Art. 85(1) provides that a worker will have sick leave right only after
completing his/her probation period; etc…. Similarly, collective
agreement or work rules may put similar restrictions.
• Termination without notice and without severance pay and
compensation by the employer seems to be restricted with a proof of
unfitness for the job (Art. 11(5)) whereas termination by the worker
without notice and without any condition (Art. 11(6)). See both version
• Acontrario reading of Article 11(5) seems to imply that the employer
can however terminate the probation period contract with notice
without the need to prove the unfitness of the worker for the job.
However, when we read Article 35(1) (a), which provides that notice is
to be given for a worker who has completed his probation period, it
also seems that the lawmaker is intentionally prohibiting the
employer from terminating a worker on probation period with
notice. Do you agree with this line of argument? Why? Why not?
 Art. 11(7) provides for the effect of expiry of probation period as
establishing employment contract effective from the beginning of
the probation period.
• Duration of employment under Civil Service Regime:-As per the
Federal Civil Service Proclamation, there are the following three
types of durations of appointment:-
(1) Probation appointment (Articles 18(1) and 20):- as per these
provisions probation in the civil service will be for six months
period with possible extension of same for additional three months
period.
(2) Permanent appointment (Article 21):- After the expiry of the
probation period and upon satisfactory performance result, the civil
servant will be given a letter of permanent appointment. If there is a
failure to carry out his/her performance evaluation, then same shall
be conducted within one month period.
 But, the law is silent about the effect of a failure to finish the
performance of evaluation within this one month period. Can we
apply rule of analogy by borrowing the rule of Labor Law under
(3)Temporary employment (Article 22):- The rule provided in the
FCSP is that a general principle which says that a government
institution may appoint a temporary civil servant only for a job
which is not of permanent nature.
 The same provision provides an exception to this general principle
and allows a government institution to appoint a temporary civil
servant whenever circumstances require. However, there is no any
guideline as to what situations can fulfill this criterion of “whenever
circumstances require”.
 Because of this, we can say that compared to similar rule provided
in the Labor Law regime, the rule in this FCSP regime seems to be
more flexible to government institutions to hire temporary
employees as flexibly as they wish. Don’t you think that for stronger
reasons the business sector does also need such flexibility?
2.2. Rights and Obligations of the Parties of Employment Relations
 Right” means “a just, proper or legal claim; a thing that one is
entitled to do or have by law.”
 Obligation” is also defined as “a law, a promise, an influence,
etc… that forces one to do something; a duty.”
Corresponding and Reciprocal Nature of Rights and Obligations
A. Corresponding Nature
 If an employee has a right, does that always mean that
his/her employer has an obligation towards the employee
and the vice verse?
 Just for academic illustration purpose, we can identify the
following corresponding rights and obligations:-
1.Right for wage vs. Obligation to Pay
2.Obligation to work vs. Right to demand work
3.Obligation to provide safety equipments vs. Right to demand them
4.Right to get certificate of service vs. Obligation to give it
5.Obligation to defray medical costs vs. Right to claim it.
 Is this always true? Or are there cases when one of the parties might have
an obligation to the other party without that other party having rights to
what is owed?
B. Reciprocal Nature
 When one of the parties has a right for some thing does that always mean
that the other party has also something to claim from that party in its
place?
 Conversely, if one of the parties has some obligation to do, does this
always mean that the other party has also an obligation to perform in its
 Just for academic illustration purpose, we can identify the following
reciprocal rights and obligations:-
6.Right for wage vs. Obligation to work
7.Obligation to work vs. Obligation to pay
8.Obligation to provide safety equipments vs. Obligation to use them
9.Right to get certificate of service vs. Obligation to work
10.To defray medical costs (Art. 12(5) vs. Obligation under Art. 14(2)
(d), etc…
 Is this always true? Or are there cases when one of the parties might
have an obligation to the other party without that other party to be
obliged to do something in its place?
 For example, the employer’s obligation to keep register and records
under Articles 12(6) and 12(9), do you see any reciprocal obligation
from the worker’s side?
Sources of Employment Rights and Obligations
 The sources of rights and obligations of employment
relations can be either the law itself or Refer to Articles
2(5) & (6), 4(2), 12 (“…in addition to special stipulations in
the contract of employment…”), etc…
 The only limitation on the validity of contract of
employment as a source of rights and obligations is as
stipulated under Article 4(5) of the Labor Proclamation
agreement, or work rules. , i.e. it shall not lay down less
favorable conditions for the employee than those provided
for by law, collective
 Similar limitation is also made on collective agreements
under Article 133(1).(null and void)
• Rights and Obligations in the Two Legal Regimes

 There is no a separate or dedicated Part/Section in the Labor proclamation that

deals on Rights of Employees and Employers.
 The rights of employees and employers are found through out the
proclamation here and there. On the other hand, however, there is a dedicated
Section in Part-Two of the Labor Proclamation which deals about the rights
and obligations of both the Employer and Workers (see Article 12 on the
Obligations of the Employer and Article 13 on the Obligations of Workers)
 However, we should keep in mind that these are not the only obligations of
the parties in the law, because just like the rights of the parties we also find
other obligations of the parties here and there through out the proclamation.
 For example, you can see the obligations of the parties under Articles 92-94
regarding safety matters. The fact that the law identifies these obligations and
puts them in a separate Section shows either the generality or specific nature
of the obligations or the emphasis the law gives to these obligations.
 Besides, the law has also given special emphasis under Article 14 on some
Unlawful Activities which both the employer and the workers shall not
commit. These are categories of obligations provided in the negative form, i.e.
in the “not to do” form.
• In the FCSP: - the treatment of rights and obligations in the civil service law
regime is not that much different from the Labor law regime.
 The rights and obligations of the civil servant and the government institution
can be found scattered here and there in the Proclamation, but some selected
obligations of the parties have been provided under dedicated section or
provision.
 For example, Articles 61-65 of the Proclamation deal about the various types
of obligations and responsibilities imposed on a civil servant.
 The nature of these obligations might be different from those obligations
imposed on employees under Labor law regime (e.g. obligation to be loyal to
the public and to the constitution, etc…)
 This is due to the nature of the appointment of the employee for serving the
public at large. Obligations related to safety matters (under Article 48(2)) are
similar in nature with those obligations of employees under the labor law
regime. Unlike the labor law regime, there are no general obligations or
prohibitions imposed on government institutions, except such specific
• N.B. Read all the provisions under Articles 12-14 and Articles 92-94 of the Labor
Proclamation no. 377/2003; and also Articles 61-65 & 48 of the FCSP no. 515/2007.
 Sanctions for Not Respecting Rights and Obligations
 Sanctions for not respecting the rights and obligations provided in the law might be
either action depending on nature of the rights and obligations violated.
Examples:- n:-dismissal or termination per Article 27(1) (i) for violations of obligations
under Article 14(2).
 Civil action:-court action to claim wage or certificate of service, etc…
 Penal action: - as per Articles 184(2) (a) &(c) for violations of obligations under
Articles 12(4) and 14(1) of the Proclamations.
 From the types of actions and from the degree of penalties imposed on
violations, we can see that different obligations will have different
consequences and that the law gives more significance to some of the
obligations. For example, see the different penalties imposed under Articles
184(1) (c) and 184(2) (a) of the Proclamation for the violation of different
types of obligations
• Modification of Contract of Employment
 As to what can be amended or modified in employment contract is clearly specified
under Article-15, i.e. “conditions of a contract of employment that are not determined
under this Proclamation”.
 So, those conditions that are already determined by the law can not be modified or
amended. Example, the obligations of the employer regarding safety matters can not be
contractually transferred to the worker.
 How can a contract of employment be modified or amended? What are the modalities of
modifications? According to Article 15 of the Proclamation, there are three modalities;
namely,
(a) by collective agreement;
(b) by work rules issued in accordance with the Proclamation (see definition of ‘work rules’
under Art. 2(5)),and procedures for issuance of Work Rules under Art. 129 (4); and
(c) by written agreement of the parties. It seems to be applicable for individual
employment relations.
(d) Law (if the new law will be favorable to the workers)
• Article 16 provides one important exception to the principle of privity in law of contracts
and states that amalgamation, division, or transfer will not modify a contract of
employment.
• The rationale behind this exception is for protection of the worker. But how do you see
this rule vis-à-vis the principle of privity of contract, which states that a contract shall bind
only contracting parties.
• Do you agree with the lawmaker to make such a big deviation from the basic principle of
contract laws? Do you think it is fair to bind Employer-B for apparently uneconomical or
unreasonable contract of employment made by Employer-A? What changes do you suggest
on this area of our law?
• The other important issue that can be raised will be with relation to transformation of
undertakings from one legal frame work to another, for example from Public Enterprise to
Civil Service Agency.
• What will be the fate of contract of employment already made with the public enterprise?
As you well know the work conditions of employees in the business sector and those in the
civil service regime are not the same. Do you think Article-16 also covers such scenarios?
What do you suggest?

N.B. In the FCSP regime, there is no similar rule or arrangement for the modification of
• Suspension of Employment Contract
 “Suspension” refers to temporary suspension of rights and
obligations (Art. 17(1)).
 Suspension normally results in full legal interruption of rights and
obligations, i.e. (1) the worker’s obligation to work, and (2) the
employer’s obligation to pay wage, other benefits and allowances
(Art. 17(2)).
 However, the law under Article 17(2) allows also for partial
interruption of rights to be set by law or by collective agreement.
 So, a collective agreement can be made, for example as per Article
27(4), for a suspension of a worker from work but with pay and
other benefits.
 This is partial interruption because only the worker’s obligation to
work is suspended.
 +

 Grounds of Suspension:-
1.Legal Suspension: here there are exhaustive legal grounds under Art 18;
2.Contractual Suspension:
(a)suspension for the purpose of investigation of offense as per Art. 27(4) and the details
of the conditions of the suspension shall be agreed by collective agreement; and
(b)suspension as penalty for offenses as agreed in collective agreement.
 Duty to Report: Article 19 imposes a reporting duty on the MoLSA only for
two suspension cases as provided under Articles 17(5) and (6).
 Non-compliance to this obligation has a criminal consequence as provided
under Art. 184(1) (c).
 The roles of MoLSA are provided under Articles 20 and 21 as follows:-
1.Determination of grounds for suspension within 3 days (Art. 20(1)).
2.Issuance of order for resumption of the work and for back-payment of wage
(Art. 20(2)).
3.Fixing duration of suspension up to maximum of 90 days. (Art. 21(1)).
4.Deciding (?) on the fact that the employer can not resume its activities within 90
days period (Art. 21(2)).
 In the FCSP, the ground for suspension is provided only in
relation to offense and for the purpose of investigation process
 Article 70 of the FCSP clearly provides four grounds for
which suspension measure can be taken.
 The three basic departures of the FCSP from the labor law
regime with regard to suspension are:
(1) no similar grounds of suspension as provided under Article
18 of the labor law;
(2) suspension for investigation purpose is a legal right for a
government institution, not contractual right;
(3) the suspension period under FCSP is for 2 months.
Termination of Employment Under the Two Legal Regimes
 Types of Termination under Labor Proc. 377/03:
 According to Article 23(1) there are four types of terminations;
namely,
A. Termination by Law: Article 24 exhaustively lists down the
following five legal grounds the occurrence of which will by
operation of law terminate contract of employment:-
1.Expiry of Definite period/completion of piece of work
2.Death of worker
3.Retirement of the worker per law
4.Ceasing of operation permanently for any cause
5.Worker's partial or total permanent incapacity and inability to
work
• Here, it is again important to note that Article 23(2) clearly
spells out that amalgamation, division, or transfer of
ownership of an undertaking shall not have the effect of
terminating a contract of employment.
• The issue of privity of contract can also be raised here and
you can question the fairness of the law to oblige the new
owner to continue with workers employed by previous
owner. Do you agree with the rationale of the law? Why?
Why not?
B. Termination by Agreement: Article 25 of the Proclamation provides two conditions for the validity
of Termination by Agreement:-
 Requirement in writing (Art. 25(2)):- It is important to note here that this legal requirement is
only for the agreement to bind the worker; otherwise, it is clear from the wordings of the
provision that the employer can be bound even by oral agreements. As a legal requirement in
writing it shall fulfill all the necessary elements of written form in the civil code general contract
provisions.
 No legal effect for waiver by worker of his/her legal rights (Art.25(1)):-This rule deviates from
the general contract principle of freedom of contract of the parties and it seems that unqualifiedly
the provision makes any minor waiver invalid even if made for a better and favorable exchange
made to the employee.
 Example: if a worker entitled for Birr 10,000.00 by way of severance pay agrees for termination
of his/her employment contract provided that the employer pays him/her Birr 100,000.00 by way
of separation package and also agrees that he/she will not claim any other right what so ever, then
it seems that the latter part of the agreement is invalid. And so, according to Article 25(1) the
worker seems to be entitled to further claim his severance pay of Birr 10,000.00. Do you think
this is fair? What do you suggest to make the provision equally protective to both parties?
 It is important to note the difference between the legal effects of the two provisions above, i.e.
Art. 25(1) makes invalid only the waiver provision of the termination agreement whereas Article
C. Termination by Employer: The provisions governing
termination by the employer are from Article 26 up to Article 29.
The major legitimate grounds for termination are categorized in
to categories and are provided under Article 26(1) as follows:-
 The worker's conduct.
 Capacity to do the work.
 Organizational or operational requirements of the undertaking.
• Depending on the type of category of termination, the
termination can be either with notice for the latter two categories
above whereas or without notice for the former category above.
1.
This provision deals with the list of illegitimate grounds of termination,
and from the list one can easily see that the listed items are related
with the violation of basic rights of the worker
• As a result it seems that the legal consequences of violating this
provision are different from the other types of unlawful terminations,
i.e. terminations which are not made contrary to Art. 26(2) but are
unlawful because they are made to the contrary of Articles 27, 28 or
29.
• The consequences of these unlawful terminations are which are
purely civil remedies
• However, violating Article 26(2) has also criminal consequence as
provided under Article 184(2) (d) of the Proclamation.
2. Termination with out notice: Art. 27(1) provides the grounds for as it
entitles the employer to terminate without notice
 The important phrase in this provision is the one which says “unless
otherwise determined by a collective agreement” and this phrase as
well as sub-article 27(1) (k) give the employer and the Labor Union
the right to come up with similar grounds of terminations but favorable
ones (absence for 7 consecutive working days) or other new grounds
of terminations (example: for a pilot missing four scheduled flights).
 How do you reconcile the phrase ‘without notice’ in Article 27(1) with
the phrase ‘written notice’ in Article 27(2)?
 The Amharic version of the provision correctly denotes the intention of
the lawmaker and thus the phrase ‘written notice’ in the latter
provision should be understood just as a written communication or
notification, rather than as advance notice requirement
• Article 27(3) provides for 30 working days prescription period, and the
rationale behind seems to prevent any abuse of power or biased actions against
the worker.
• The important phrase in this provision is “ f ”. So, what is important is not the
date of the commission of the offense, but the date when the employer knows
the ground for termination
• Here, it also important to note that it is not the mere information or report that
matters, but the investigated result clearly letting the employer to know that
there is a ground for termination.
 Article 27(4), which permits the parties to incorporate a provision in the
collective agreement for the “conditions” (not “grounds”) of suspension before
terminating a worker. This is a mere permissive provision that unless the parties
agree otherwise the employer will not have a legal right to suspend a worker on
the pretext of an investigation
 The rationale behind this provision seems that according to Article 17
suspension will have automatically the effect of suspending wage and thus the
lawmaker does not want to let the employer have legal right for suspension and
Basically there are 2 categories of grounds for termination with notice by the employer;
namely, and
I. (Capacity and Situations affecting the worker (Art. 28(1)):- provides two
categories of cases about loss of capacity and situations affecting the worker:-
 L -Manifest Loss of capacity or lack of skill of the worker (para.(a));
-Health or disability and inability to carry out obligation permanently (para.(b));
 Situations affecting the worker
a. Unwillingness to move/transfer to a place where the undertaking moves (para.(c));
b. Cancellation of worker's post for good cause & no possibility of
transfer (para.(a));
Here, we can raise the following legal issues: How can we show that the person really loses
capacity or skill under article 28(1) (a) to distinguish same from article 27(1) (e), where the
worker has the potential? Is it possible to show this? What is the difference between article
28(1) (b) and article 24(5)? Should the health problem under article 28(1) (b) approved by
board? Is it fair for the undertaking to give notice in the case of article 28(1) (c)? Why? What
constitutes good cause under article 28(1) (d)?
ii. Reduction of work force
 There are basically four scenarios/cases enabling an employer to undertake reduction of
workforce (Art. 28(2) & 28(3)):-
(Due to Organizational or operational requirements of undertaking)
1.Any event entailing direct and permanent cessation of worker’s activities (partial or whole);
2.Fall in demand resulting in the reduction of volume of work and profit;
3.Altering work methods or introducing new technology to raise productivity; and
4. Cancellation of post affecting at least 10% of the workers.
 Definition of reduction of work force (Art. 29(1)):- The important legal issue that
may arise from the provisions of Articles 29(1) & (2) is as to whether the term
“workers” therein does also include managerial employees for the purpose of
applying reduction of work force.
 Example: an employer had 100 workers, out of which 10 are managerial employees,
and due to any of the reasons under Article 28(2) and (3), the employer decided to
reduce 10 workers, but out of them one is to be a managerial employee. The Labor
Union argues that the legal requirement of 10% is not fulfilled as the employer is
reducing 9 non-managerial employees. On the other hand, the employer argues that
the term “workers” under Article 29(1) and (2) includes managerial employees.
What will be your judgment if the case is submitted to you? Try to analyze this
issue in line with the definition of “worker” in the proclamation and other relevant
provisions.
• Legal procedural requirements (Art. 29(3)):-
 Consultation with union/representative
 Rules of priority
 In view of the clarity and exhaustive list of priority
provided by the law, what do you think will be the necessity
of consultation with the Union? Do you think this provision
allows the employer and the Union to negotiate on this
matter? Try to see this issue in line with Article 129(3) of
the Proclamation. What do you think is the exact intention
of the legislator on this matter?
 Exception for construction work (Art. 30):- normal decrease
in volume of construction work due to successive
completion.
Termination by Worker (Art. 31 & 32):(Resignation)
 With 30 days notice (art. 31 ).(Ordinary Resignation)
 Sanction for not complying with notice requirement (art.45)
 maximum of 30 days wages of the worker.
 With out notice (art. 32(1)):- In some jurisdictions, they call such kind of
termination as Constructive dismissal because the worker is forced to
terminate his/her employment relation due to the employer’s commission or
inaction affecting the worker’s basic rights. Acknowledged by our Labor
Proclamation as entitling the worker for termination without notice:-
1.Commission of an act against the worker contrary to his dignity, moral, or
any other act punishable under the penal code;
2.Employer’s failure to act to avert imminent danger threatening worker’s
safety or health after being informed;
3.Repeated failure of the employer to fulfill its basic obligations.
 Obligation to inform (art. 32(2)).
 Period of limitation (Art. 33):- after 15 working days from the date on which
the act occurred or ceased to exist.
Notice of Termination (Arts. 34-35):
1.In writing (art. 34(1)).
2.Specification of reason and effective date of termination (art. 34(1)).
3.The rule is to give notice to the worker in person (art. 34(2)).
4.Exception to the rule-affixing the notice on notice board in the work place of the worker for 10
consecutive days (Art. 34(2)).
5.To employer/Representative/office (art. 34(3)).
6.Restriction of giving termination notice during suspension period (art. 34(4)):-The language of
the English version of 34(4) seems to be erroneous and that of the Amharic version is the
correct one. What do you think is the rationale behind this restriction? It is important to note
that this restriction does not seem to apply for termination without notice cases. So, if an
employer has learnt that a worker has committed an offense which entails termination, then it
can terminate him/her even if they are under suspension period as per art. 17. But what is the
logic behind the law to prohibit an employer from terminating a worker with notice while it
does not have similar prohibition for cases of termination without notice?
7.Notice period (art. 35):-
o According to service (art. 35(1).
o For definite period (art. 35(2):- to be agreed in the contract, but it seems that in the absence
of such agreement, the rule under art. 35(1) shall also apply for definite period contract.
o Commencement of notice period (art. 35(3):- starting from next working day.
8.Obligations during notice period (art. 35(4)):- Rights and obligations shall continue
Effects & Consequences of Termination:
 Basically, there are five major legal effects and consequences of termination
1. Payment of Wages & Other Payments (Arts 36 -38)
o The Rule (art. 36, 1st sentence before the proviso)
o Exceptions (art. 36, the proviso and art. 37): The Right to Lien(Legal claim) and
amount in dispute.
o Effect of Delay (art. 38):- Up to max of 3 months wages.
2. Severance Pay (39)
What is severance pay? = it is a sort of to protect the worker from financial instability
 Arguments in favor and against severance pay:-
For Against
 Protection from financial instability -Not Employer’s responsibility
 Profit sharing - Contrary to business justification
 Contribution of worker - Why for termination due to force
majeure?
 Incentive/motivations - Why for a resigning worker?
 The grounds for severance pay can be either lawful or unlawful
terminations
 Lawful terminations
- Ceasing of operation due to bankruptcy
- For reduction of force
- Termination due to disability(partial or total and certified by medical board)
- Sickness.
- Death.
- Resignations after 5 yrs of service or due to HIV/AIDS.
- Retirement age, provided no
- Pension
- Provident fund
 Unlawful terminations
- 39(1) (b)
- Constructive dismissals 39(1) (d) & (e):-
 Query: what about 32(1) (c)?Why?
 Amount of calculation (Art. 40)
3.Compensation Payment:- mainly applicable for unlawful terminations:-
• Arts. 40(3) & 41 & 44:- sort of compensation in lieu of notice
• Art. 43(1) & (2) & (3), Alternative Remedy: maximum for six months wage.
• Art. 43(3): two legal issues: (i) what is the extent of the court’s discretion? Is it appeal able?
(ii) can the execution court decide compensation or shall the employee go back to the initial
court for judgment review?
• Applicable also for pensioners. Does that mean those who are covered by provident fund
scheme are excluded? The answer is no, but it needs judiciary interpretation.
4. Reinstatement (43(1) & (2))
• Issues raised on reinstatement:-specific/forced performance vis-à-vis art. 1776 of the Civil
Code (which provides two conditions for its exception: (i) special interest to creditor and (ii)
without affecting personal liberty of the debtor).
• It seems that our Labor Law provides an exception to the exception rule in the civil code.
What do you think is the rationale behind this exception rule?
 Two types of reinstatement rules:-
(i) Mandatory reinstatement (art.43(1) &
(ii) Discretionary reinstatement (art. 43(2) & (3).
• No reinstatement for constructive dismissal in our labor law. In some jurisdictions,
5. Back Payment
• What is it and what is its legal basis? And the legal issues related to
back pay will be: is it damage? What about the rule of no work-no
wage? Is there fault on the employer’s side? How?
• The previous Labor Proclamation no. 42/1993 was silent on this
aspect: - the silence and the consequence followed there from called
for amendment of the law with specific provision to that effect (Art.
43(5)).
• Issues to be raised on the new provision Art. 43(5):- (i) is the one year
back pay by appellate court in addition to the 6 month back pay by
lower court or is the total sum? (ii) Can the appellate court also
award this additional back pay even if the appellant is the worker?
• (iii) shall/can the courts, both the lower court and the appellate court,
award such back-payment remedy even if same is not demanded by
the worker?
Grounds, Procedures, and Effects of Termination under the
FCSP:
• Termination rules of civil servants is provided under PART-7 of the FCSP from
Articles 78-86, and basically most of the termination grounds are almost similar
with that of the labor law regime with some differences here and there.
• Among the modalities of terminations acknowledged by the labour law regime,
termination by agreement of the parties is not incorporated in the FCSP
 Grounds
 The main termination grounds in the FCSP are:-
 Resignation (Art. 78):- resignation with one month notice is possible
but the head of the government institution may delay the release of the
civil servant for a maximum period of three months.
 Termination due to Illness (Art. 79):- the rule in the FCSP is more
clear on this regard compared to the situation in the labor law regime,
where it is not clear whether the employer can terminate the
 Termination for Inefficiency (Art. 80):- a civil servant whose performance
is below satisfactory for two successive evaluation periods will be
dismissed. Again here, the rule is clearer than similar rule in the labor law
regime, where the law uses (under Art. 27(1) (e)) very general and abstract
phrases that make the implementation of the rule difficult to apply
 Termination for absenteeism (Art. 81):- this provision uses the standard of
Force Majeure for tolerating the absence of a civil servant while a similar
rule under the labor law regime (Art. 27(1) (b)) uses a very lenient
standard of good cause (its meaning is not even defined by law).
 Besides, this same provision clearly provides that the maximum period for
tolerance of absenteeism even for Force Majeure is six months while such
rule is not clear from the provisions of the labor law, the lack of which
becomes a cause for a lot of court cases.
 Nullification of appointment (Art. 82):- such nullification of appointment
will be made for false representation of educational records or work
experience.
 Retrenchment (Art. 83):- a civil servant will be retrenched where
his. There are no such requirements like good cause or minimum of
10% workforce, etc…as in the case of reduction of workforce in the
labor law regime.
 Termination for Disciplinary cases (Art. 84):- Those offenses that
entail dismissal from civil service are those listed down under Article
68 of FCSP. The basic differences of these offenses from those
offenses under the labor law regime are: clarity of the offenses,
different degree of standards used, non-exhaustively listed offenses,
etc…
 Retirement (Art. 85):- the rule here is cleared compared to similar rule
in the labor law regime
 Termination due to death (Art. 86):- the rule is the same in both
regimes on this regard.
 Procedures:-
 Two basic differences of the FCSP regime compared to the labor law regime are the
following:-
1. No notice requirement:-except for the case of retirement which requires 3 months
advance notification, there is no any notice requirement for the other termination
cases. Even the case of retirement is a matter of notification, not as such advance
notice requirement which will have legal consequence. In fact, the Amharic version
of Art. 85(1) clearly states that the termination of the civil servant upon attainment
of the legal retirement age shall be effected without any additional procedure.
2. Disciplinary committee:-According to Art. 69 a government institution shall
establish a disciplinary committee which shall investigate disciplinary charges
brought against civil servants and thereby submit recommendations to the
concerned officials. According to Articles 7-20 of the Council of Ministers
Regulation no. 77/2002 the disciplinary charges against a civil servant shall be
investigated by the Disciplinary Committee by formal investigation processes and
finally the Committee shall give its recommendations to the head of the government
for final decision.
So, for a termination of a civil servant on account of discipline case to be legal it
should be made in line with this clear procedure.
There is no such similar procedure requirement in the labor law regime, but similar
 Effects:-
• The effects of terminations and unlawful terminations in the FCSP are different
from those provided in the labor law regime. The following can be some for
demonstration purpose:-
1.One major difference of the rule of resignation under FCSP is that the civil servant
may be subjected to criminal liability in case of failure to resign without notice (Art.
78(2)).
2. Severance pay is only for retrenchment case. It seems that when it comes to civil
service regime, the concept of severance pay is properly applied.
3. Though there is no clear provision for reinstatement ruling in case of unlawful
termination, it can be deducted from Article 76(1) of the FCSP that the
Administrative Tribunal may reverse the administrative decision of dismissal
against civil servant (and may decide for reinstatement). However, the provision is
not clear and moreover it is provided in a permissive style with the word “may”,
and so it seems that the Tribunal may also decide otherwise. From this we can
conclude that reinstatement is not a legal right in the civil service regime and ruling for
reinstatement is purely discretionary which depends on the mercy of the Tribunal.
4. No legal right of compensation for unlawful dismissal
5. No legal right of back payment for unlawful dismissal
 Therefore, from legal effect point of view, it can be said dismissal/termination of a
civil servant is easier than dismissing a worker under labor law regime
3.Special Categories of Employees
3.1. Home workers
• It is important to note the following points regarding home workers in
general and their treatment under Ethiopian Labor law
• ILO Homework Convention no. 177/1996 is the relevant international
instrument; but unfortunately Ethiopia did not ratify this Convention
• This Convention obliges member states to come up with national policies
and local laws to ensure the minimum standards and protections of home
workers such as the right to form association, regarding safety matters,
equal treatment like other workers, etc…
• According to the Home work Convention a home worker is a person who
works for remuneration in his/her home or in other premises of his/her
choice other than the work place of the employer, which results in a
product or service as specified by the employer irrespective of who
provides the equipment, materials or other inputs used, unless this person
is an independent contractor of autonomy or economic independence.
(Article 1(a)).
• Our Labor proclamation defines “home worker” almost similarly as “a person
habitually performs work for an employer in his home or any other place freely
chosen by him in return for wages without any direct supervision or direction by the
employer.” (Article 46(1)).
• The basic differences of these two above definitions are:
(1) our law uses the adjective “habitually” while we do not find such qualification in the
ILO definition; and
(2) the ILO definition uses the term “remuneration”, which is a wider concept than the
word “wage” as used in our Labor law because “wage” is defined in our law as a
regular payment excluding other types of payments.
 It is important to note that the word ‘habitually’ in our Labor law has the objective to
exclude those workers who might work at their home or at their own chosen place
intermittently, not regularly.
• Article 46(4) gives power to MoLSA to issue a directive to prescribe the provisions
that shall apply to home workers and the manner of their application.
• Does this provision have an exclusionary effect? One may argue by saying that
unless MoLSA comes up with such directive, the Labor proclamation will not be
applicable on home workers and since MoLSA did not issue any directive so far the
• Three important provisions worth of mentioning are: (1) Art. 46(3) a
legal presumption, which is an exception to the legal presumption of
indefinite employment contract made under Art. 9; (2) Art. 47-
Obligation on employers for keeping records on their home workers;
and (3) Art. 169-Legal lien right given to home workers in case of
liquidation of the employer.
 EXERCISES:-Do home workers fall under the definition of
“workers” as per Art. 2 (2) vis-à-vis Art.4? Why do you think the law-
maker did not exclude home workers under Art.3 (scope of
application clause)? Will Art.169 applicable and enforceable without
MoLSA’s directive envisaged under Art. 46 (4)? Do you agree to the
position that the issue of home workers is not a concern for Ethiopian
current context?
3.2. Apprentices
• It is important to note the following points regarding apprenticeship under
Ethiopian law:-
• Definition of apprenticeship: Article 48(1) states that apprenticeship contract
exists “...when an employer agrees to give a person complete and systematic
training in a given occupation related to the function of his undertaking in
accordance with the skills of the trade and the person in return agrees to
obey the instruction given to carry out the training and works related
thereto.”
• One difficult part of this definition is as to how to identify contract of
apprenticeship from other types of employment contract for training purpose
as excluded under Art. 3(2)(b).
• Both contracts have training objective behind them and no guideline is put
by the law to distinguish one from the other. One possible way of
distinguishing these two types of contracts can be as to whether the trainer is
a licensed training institution or not-if it is a licensed training institution,
then the contract will fall under Art. 3(2)(b) whereas if the trainer is just an
undertaking and not licensed for training, then the contract will be
apprenticeship
 The other important distinction between the two contracts is that while the contract under
Art. 3(2)(b) is a contract of employment, but the contract under Art 48 is not a contract of
employment because:
(1) the principal purpose is training, not to perform work which is just incidental; and
(2) wage is not a requirement for apprenticeship, it is remuneration-which can be any kind of
payment arrangement
 Apprenticeship on what occupation? The other problem with regard to the above
definition is as to what “occupation related to the function of his undertaking” means?
 Again, there is no guideline to find out what occupation is or is not allowed for
apprenticeship contract.
 For example, can a Hotel give an apprenticeship to an accountant? Can an oil marketing
company give an apprenticeship to a civil engineer? Can a Bank give an apprenticeship
to a secretary?
 MoLSA has been given power to come up with appropriate directives to identify the
types of occupations and works in which apprenticeship need to be given, also regarding
duration of apprenticeship, and also regarding theoretical and practical aspects of
apprenticeships as well acome s the manner of giving tests (Art. 170(1)(g)(h)&(i)).
 However, so far the Ministry did not up with any directive regarding such matters and
because of this various labor offices at different levels attest apprenticeship contracts just
blindly-no rules, no guidelines!
 There are three legal requirements for the validity of apprenticeship contract;
namely,
1. minimum age of the apprentice should be 14 years (Art. 48(2);
2. the contract should be in writing (art. 48(3); and
3. the contract should be attested by MoLSA.
 The non-fulfillments of these requirements will have the effect of making the
Contract invalid and same can be challenged by either party.
 What will be the legal effect of challenging such apprenticeship contract? Will the
person have automatically the status of an ordinary worker, rather than an
apprentice? Why?
Contents of apprenticeship contract (art. 49)
 From the mandatory nature of this provision, it is important to note that the three
listed down elements shall be always included in the contract of apprenticeship, the
concerned Labor officer attesting such contracts shall at least check the existence
of these elements. Another important point to note is the element of
“remuneration”, which is different from “wage” as used for contract of
employment under art. 4(1).
 So, for the purpose of apprenticeship contract regular payment is not required, i.e.
Obligations of the parties:
 Art. 50(1) imposes an obligation of diligence on the apprentice. On the other art. 50(2)
prohibits the employer from assigning the apprentice on an occupation not related to his
training.
 The rationale behind this latter provision is to prevent employers from exploiting apprentices
by assigning them on other duties.
 Art. 52 of the proclamation also imposes an obligation on the employer to give to the
apprentice certificate indicating the occupation for which he has been trained and the
duration of the training.
Termination of apprenticeship contract and consequences:
 Art. 51(1) provides a general rule for grounds of terminations while art. 51(2)-(4) provide
detailed grounds of terminations.
 Art. 51(2) gives the employer the right to terminate the apprenticeship contract with notice
due to the specified grounds.
 Does that mean the employer can, however, terminate the contract of apprenticeship without
notice due to the grounds of art. 27? How do you see this issue vis-à-vis art. 51(2)(b) which
requires the employer to give notice even for disciplinary violations of the apprentice?
 Art. 51(3) gives the apprentice the right to terminate his contract with notice due to
employer’s failure to observe his obligations, or due to health or some other family problems.
It seems that art. 51(3)(a) is an exception to the rule under art. 32(1)(c). Otherwise, art. 51(3)
seems to require the apprentice good cause to terminate the apprenticeship contract with
notice, which is also an exception to the general rule enshrined under art. 31 for an ordinary
 Art. 51(4) entitles the apprentice to terminate the contract without notice in the event of
the occurrence of any of the grounds listed under paragraphs (a) & (b) of art. 51(4). Can
we say that this rule is a clear exception to the rule of art. 32, or can we say that these
are just additional grounds in addition to art. 32?
 Can you really distinguish the difference of the grounds provided under art. 51(3)(a) vis-
à-vis art. 51(4)(b)? Similarly, the difference of the grounds under art. 51(3)(b) vis-à-vis
art. 51(4)(a)?
 What is the duration of the notice period requirement under arts. 51(2) and 51(3)? It
seems that we can apply the rules provided under Arts. 31, 34 and 35 since these
provisions of the proclamation are not excluded from application on apprenticeship (ref.
to art. 51(5)).
 But when it comes to legal effects and consequences of violating these termination rules,
we can argue that a party who violates any of the legal conditions and requirements will
not be subject to any liability (ref. to art. 51(5)).(The prov. Of severance payment,
compensation and reinstatement not applicable)
 Partial Exclusion clause of Article 51(5): Query- So, what is the purpose of including
apprenticeship under labor proclamation? May be, it is just to entitle apprentices to all
other minimum working conditions (i.e. max. working hours, leaves, overtime
pay, entitlement for occupational injury, etc…) of the proclamation during
their stay in the undertaking.
3.3 Young employees
 Article 36(1)(d) of the 1995 FDRE Constitution provides a constitutional protection for
children against exploitive practices, hazardous or harmful works that affect their education,
health, or well-being.
 Ethiopia has also ratified the following international conventions related to Children:-
1. UN Child Rights Convention,
2. ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138, 1973, and
3. ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention No. 182, 1999.
 Apart from the above constitutional and international protections, the relevant provisions of the
Labor Proclamation no. 377/2003 also provide certain protections and limitations regarding
young workers between 14 and 18 years old.
 Article 89(3) provides a general prohibition against employment of young workers for a work
which on account of its nature or due to the condition in which it is carried out endangers
the life or health of young workers performing it.
 Article 89(4) also gives power to MoLSA to come up with the list of activities prohibited to
young workers, which list shall also include the list of activities provided from (a) to (d) of Art.
89(4).
 Not only engaging young workers on these activities, but it is also prohibited under Art. 91 to
engage them at night, on overtime, on weekly rest time, or on public holidays.
 Finally, the law also made an exception to the normal working hours of 8 hours per day by
reducing same to 7 hours per day for young workers under Art. 90.
 It is important to note here that engagement of young persons below 18 years old for civil
 An important issue to be raised with regard to the legal protections of young
workers is the practical enforcement of the law, i.e. are the concerned Labor
Inspectorate offices capable of enforcing the law? Do we really have the
financial, manpower, facility, information network, etc… necessary for the
enforcement of these legal protections?
 EXERCISES:-Given the factual economic situation of Ethiopia, where
children will be forced to work so as to support themselves and their poor
families, do you agree the above protections are really protections for them?
Or do you consider them as prohibitions against children?
3.3.Female employees
 It is important to note the following points regarding female workers:-
 The 1995 FDRE Constitution enshrined two basic rights for women; namely,
(1) the right to equality with men (art. 35(1); and
(2) the right for affirmative action (preferential treatment) as per article 35(3).
The Constitution does also provide other special types of rights and
protections pertaining to their special status (maternity leave, prenatal leave,
property right, equality in employment and pay, etc….).
 In 1999, Ethiopia has ratified the ILO Equal Remuneration Convention no. 100,
which dictates that women shall not be discriminated with regard to
remuneration and thus employers shall pay equal pay for similar posts
irrespective of sex.
 Moreover, Ethiopia has also ratified, in 1966, the ILO Discrimination
(Employment & Occupation) Convention no. 111, 1958, which prohibits any
kind of discrimination based on sex and other status.
 Apart from the above constitutional and international instruments, the relevant
employments laws in both the public and the private sector have also come up
with some kinds of protections and preferential treatments.
 Art. 13(1) of the FCSP and Art. 14(1)(b)& (f) and Art. 87(1) of the Labor Law
clearly prohibit any kind of discrimination against female workers.
 The FCSP further proceeds and provide the right of preferential treatment for
female workers under Art. 13(3) by stating that in recruitment, promotion and
development preference shall be given to female candidates with equal or close
scores.
 Though there is no such similar preferential requirement in the private sector, it
is however one step to introduce same in the civil service.
 The relevant employment laws do also provide special rights and protections for
female workers for some special circumstances such as pregnancy and maternity
(refer to Articles 87 & 88 of Labor Proclamation, and also Article 41 of the FCSP).
 It is important to note that the right of female workers against discrimination is not
an absolute right, i.e. there might be some acceptable discrimination due to the very
nature of the job.
 For example, it is legally prohibited to employ female workers on type of work that
may be listed by MoLSA to be particularly harduous and harmful to their health.
 However, it seems that unless MoLSA comes up with such list, an employer can
not discriminate female workers on the basis of their sex.
 There is some controversy with regard to whether female workers are really
beneficiaries of some special rights like prenatal or maternity leaves with pay.
 The controversy is that though the special rights are provided for their protections,
in practice however employers might be naturally forced to opt for a male
candidate rather than a female candidate so to avoid unnecessary costs related to
their pregnancy and maternity.
 So, due to this factual situation can we really say that such special rights are for the
protection of female workers or against them? What is your opinion on this
controversy? Do you think the protections are beneficial or not? Why? Why not?
3.5.Employees with Disability
 It is important to note the following points regarding workers with disability:
 Apart from Article 25, which enshrines the principle of equality and anti-
discrimination in general, and also apart from Article 41(5), which provides for
special assistance for disabled persons, there is no other constitutional provision
dedicated for disabled persons.
 However, there is a separate proclamation dealing with the Right to Employment of
Persons with Disability (Proc. No. 568/2008), which provides detailed rights and
protections for persons with disability.
 This proclamation has made the following important changes and advancements
compared to the previous proclamation no. 101/1994:-
1. It abolishes the obligation of employers to reserve suitable posts for disabled
persons. The rationale behind such abolition is specified in the preamble of the law,
i.e. providing for reservation of vacancies for disabled persons created an image
that people with disability are incapable of performing jobs based on merit.
2.It introduced a preferential treatment for disabled persons with equal or close
scores with others (Art. 4).
 It provides for prohibition of discriminations and specifies various scenarios of discriminations
(Art. 5).
 It stipulated obligations on employers to avail reasonable accommodations for disabled workers
(Art. 6).
 It shifts the burden of proof from employees or applicants to the employer (Art. 7) so to make
easier for them to exercise their rights.
 Article 13 of the FCSP has also incorporated both the principles of non-discrimination based on
disability (Art. 13(1)) and the principle of preferential treatment (Art. 13(3)).
 The Labor Proclamation does also prohibit discrimination on any ground under Article 14(1)(f),
which prohibition definitely includes discrimination based on disability. Though the Labor law
does not provide right for preferential treatment, this gap will be filled by the special law (Proc.
No 568/2008).
 It is again important to note that the right against non-discrimination is not an absolute right
because Article 4(1) of Proc. No 568/2008, for example, starts its rule by saying “unless the
nature of the work dictates otherwise”, which qualification allows for reasonable discrimination.
 Though we do not find similar qualification in the two employment laws of the public and
private regimes, we can however apply this rule of exception since this is a special law on the
matter.
 EXERCISES:-In case of a disabled male candidate and a female candidate, to whom shall the
employer give better preferential right? Can you find a guiding principle in the provisions of the
3.6.Non Ethiopian employees
 It is important to note the following points regarding non-Ethiopian workers
and their treatment under the two employment law regimes:-
 Under the FCSP (Art. 22(2), the employment of a non-Ethiopian national in
the civil service will be only for temporary period, and only on condition
that it is impossible to fill a vacant position that requires high level
professional by an Ethiopian through promotion, transfer, or recruitment.
 So, it seems that engagement of a foreign national to a civil service
institution is very restrictive.
 However, the rule regarding employment of foreign national in the private sector is
less clear than the rule in the civil service. Article 170(1)(e) empowers MoLSA to
issue directive to identify the types of works which require work permits for
foreigners in general, and the manner of giving work permits. Since work permits
are being issued for different foreign nationals, we can assume that MoLSA has
already some sort of directive on this matter.
 However, from the types of work permits being issued for foreigners we can
tell that the rule in the private sector is not as restrictive as in the civil
service because the trend is that MoLSA gives work permits even for those
 Article 174(1) stipulates that any foreigner may be employed in any type of
work in Ethiopia where he possesses a work permit given to him by the
Ministry.
 The work permit to be given to a foreigner will be time barred for three years,
subject to renewal (Art. 174(2)).
 The issue to be raised here is what is the effect of employing a foreign citizen
without work permit? Will the employer have the right to terminate the
employment contract subsequently due to this ground? If so, on which of the
termination grounds of the law? Isn’t the relationship between the foreigner and
the employer distinct from the relationship of the foreigner and the
government? What amendments do you recommend in the labor law to address
such problem?
 Do you think Article 174(2) dictates the employment contract of a foreign
citizen to be for a definite period only?
 How do you see this in line with the legal presumption provided under Article 9
and the exhaustive grounds of definite period employment contracts under
Article-10? Let us assume that a foreigner’s work permit expires after 3 years
period, does that mean the employment contract will be terminated
automatically? What measures can the employer legally take on the foreign
4.DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISMS AND PERIOD OF LIMITATIONS
 Basically there are two modalities of dispute resolution mechanism; namely,
submission of cases to a body with judicial power, or alternatively to take industrial
actions.
 Especially, the latter modality might be useful to enforce rights and demands when
the former option is not possible; and vise versa, submission of disputes to a
judicial body will be an indispensible option when industrial action is not legally
possible.
Meaning and Types of Labor Disputes
 ‘Labor dispute’ is defined under Article 136(3) as follows:-“ any controversy
arising between a worker and an employer or trade union and employers in respect
of the application of law, collective agreement, work rules, employment contract or
customary rules and also any disagreement arising during collective bargaining or
in connection with collective agreement.”
 Though this provision defines ‘labor dispute’ in terms of any controversy, it
is however, important to understand that it does not cover all controversies
between worker(s) and employers because the definition is given with
restriction to controversies related to employment matters.

 +

Types of labor disputes

 it is important to note that there are two basic categories of labor
disputes; namely, Individual Labor Disputes and Collective Labor
Disputes.
 Unfortunately, the labor law does not give the definitions of these two
types of disputes.
 However, Articles 138 and 142 are the relevant provisions referring to
these types of disputes and they are also provisions helping courts to
interpret the exact meaning of these types of disputes.
 Individual Labor Disputes:- Article 138(1) states that the labor
division of the regional first instance court shall have jurisdiction to
settle and determine the following and other similar individual labor
disputes:-
• Disciplinary measures
• Dismissal
• Termination or cancellation of employment contract
• Issues related to hours of work, remuneration, leave, and rest period
• Issuance of certificate of employment and release
• Employment injury
 The above issues are concerned with individual workers, and the list is not exhaustive.
 So, any other issues of similar issues which concern only individual workers will be
considered as Individual Labor Disputes
 Collective Labor Dispute:- on the other hand, Article 142(1) provides that the
conciliator appointed by the Ministry shall endeavor to bring about a settlement on the
following and other similar matters of collective labor disputes:-
• Wages and other benefits (Please note the Amharic version which provides about
determination of wages and benefits)
• Establishment of new conditions of work
• Conclusion, amendment, period, & invalidation of collective agreement
• Interpretation of law, collective agreement, and work rules
• Procedure of employment and promotion of workers
• Matters affecting the workers in general and the existence of the undertaking
• Measures taken by employer regarding promotion, transfer, and training
• Reduction of workforce
 Again, the above list is not exhaustive and thus any other similar matters which
concern collective workers in general or which will have impact on all workers
will be taken as collective labor disputes.
 So, what matters in distinguishing between individual and collective labor
disputes is not the number of workers involved in the dispute but the effect or
impact of the decision on all other workers.
Submission of Cases to a Body Having Judicial Power
 There are various forums provided by the labor law regarding submission of
cases to a judicial body. The following are the forums for settling or deciding of
labor disputes:-
 Ordinary courts of law:- at first instance level courts will have to decide only
individual labor disputes.
 But at appeal level, the High court will have to see and decide both individual as
well as collective labor disputes.
 The High court’s jurisdiction to see the decisions of boards by appeal is
restricted only on questions of law because the decision of the labor boards is
final and conclusive on questions of facts. (see Articles 140 ,153, and 154 of the
• Conciliation:- Government vs. Private Conciliation.
 The Government conciliation has the power to settle collective labor
dispute, but the private conciliation freely chosen by the parties (per
Article 143) can see and settle any kind of disputes without any
restrictions.
 In both cases, the role of conciliators is just to assist the parties to come
to an agreement; otherwise, the conciliators will not give an executable
decision.
 But the private conciliation option is not utilized in practice.
• Labor Board:- (permanent vs. ad-hoc Boards) this is government
sponsored arbitration forum.
• The board has the power to see and settle and decide collective labor
disputes.
• The ad-hoc labor board is introduced in the labor law to see and decide
labor disputes related to essential public services undertakings as defined
 Private Arbitration:- see Article 143 of the Labor Proclamation which provides
the possibility of settlement of labor disputes by arbitration freely chosen by the
parties.
 This is a forum not being utilized in the practice-it is not usual and common for
employer and workers to submit their cases to private arbitration. What do you think
is the reason for this?
 The following are important issues to know when it comes to submission of cases to judicial
bodies:-
• Limitation of powers: - both courts and boards are not allowed to see and decide on
determination of wages and benefits. (see Article 138 and 147(1)(a) of Labor
Proclamation).
• It is only the jurisdiction of a conciliation to see the issue of determination of wages
and benefits as per Article 142(1)(a).
• But since the conciliation does not have the power to decide, it would be
meaningless to bring such issues to it.
• Power of the ad-hoc Board:- the ad-hoc board has the power to decide on issues of
determination of wages and benefits regarding essential public services
undertakings (see Articles 144(2) and 147(2) of the labor proclamation).
• Time frame for decision:- the law provides the maximum period of time within
which time decisions should be given by judicial bodies.
• Courts should give decisions within 2 months time, and boards shall give
decisions within 1 month time. (see Articles 138(2), 139(3), and 151 of labor
proclamation).
• But in practice this is not being implemented due to work loads??
Industrial Actions as Dispute Resolution Mechanism
A-Definition
• Industrial action refers collectively to any measure taken by organized employees
or trade unions to stop work or to reduce productivity in a workplace. Usually
and mistakenly, this term is used and interpreted as a substitute for a strike, but
the scope is much wider.
B-Types of Industrial Actions by Workers
 Strike: is a work stoppage caused by employees. A strike usually takes place in
response to employee grievances or disagreements with their employers.
 Strike can include both workers refusing to attend work or those who are
picketing outside the workplace to prevent or dissuade people from working in
 However, strike may also include workers who occupy the workplace, bu
refuse either to do their jobs or to leave.
 This is known as a sit-down-strike. Most strikes called by unions are normall
predictable. However, not all strikes are called by unions because strikes ca
also be made by employees to pressurize their employer to acknowledge thei
union.
 Wildcat strikes: strikes may be spontaneous actions by working people
Spontaneous strikes are sometimes called "wildcat strikes"; most commonly
they are responses to serious (often life-threatening) safety hazards in th
workplace rather than wage or hour disputes, etc.
 Japanese strike: on the contrary workers maximize their output. They ar
nominally working as usual, but the surplus can break the planning of thei
employer.
 General strike: is a strike action by a critical mass of the labor force in a city
region or country.
 While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, i
tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of th
participants.
• Slowdown or Go-Slow:-slowdown or go-slow is a term used
in industrial relations used to define a slowing down of production or
provision of a service by a labor force in pursuance of an industrial
dispute or grievance, as opposed to a direct interruption of it.
• When implemented a slow down or go-slow can utilize a number of
techniques, including for example refusal of overtime working.
• A slowdown is an industrial action in which employees perform their
duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their
performance of these duties.
• A slowdown may be used as either a prelude or an alternative to a
strike, as it is seen as less disruptive as well as less risky and costly
for workers and their union.
• Striking workers usually go unpaid and risk being replaced, so a
slowdown is seen as a way to put pressure on management while
avoiding these outcomes.
• Occupation of factories is a method of the workers’ movement used to prevent lock-
outs.
• Work-to-rule; is (unconventional tactic also known as an Italian strike) an industrial
action in which workers do no more than the minimum required by the rules of a
workplace, and follow safety or other regulations to the letter or they might refuse to
work overtime in order to cause a slowdown rather than to serve their purpose.
• This is considered less disruptive than a strike, and just obeying the rules is less
susceptible to disciplinary action.
• Sometimes the term "rule-book slowdown" is used in a slightly different sense than
"work-to-rule".
• But the terms may be used synonymously. Sometimes work-to-rule can be considered
malicious compliance by employers as they pursue legal action.
• In practice, many rules are loosely interpreted in the interest of efficiency.
• A union seeking to employ a slowdown tactic may take advantage of these common rule
oversights by having workers "follow the rules," obeying each and every rule to the
fullest extent, which consequently will greatly reduce productivity.
• This has the advantage of allowing workers and unions to claim that no malfeasance is
being committed, since they are doing only what the management's rules actually
require them to do.
 Other times slowdowns are accompanied by intentional
sabotage on the part of workers to provide further disruption.
• Nonetheless, workers participating in a slowdown are often punished,
sometimes by firing and other times by law.
 Overtime ban : is a form of industrial action where workers limit their
working time to the hours specified in the law or in their agreement,
refusing to work any overtime.
• Overtime bans are less disruptive than strike, and since there is no
breach of contract by the employees there is less chance of disciplinary
action by the employer than there is with strikes.
• However, an overtime ban can have a significant impact on industries
which normally operate outside of regular office hours.
• An overtime ban is similar to a work-to-rule, in that both involve
employees refusing to do more than is strictly required of them.
• However, and in contrast with a work-to-rule, when an overtime ban is
in place workers may still perform duties not required of them,
providing they do not go outside their contracted hours.
• Picketing: is generally a form of protest in which workers congregate outside a
place of work or location where an event is taking place with the purpose to
prohibit others from going in (from "crossing the picket line"), but it can also be
done to draw public attention to a cause.
• Pickets should be normally endeavor to be non-violent.
• It can have a number of aims, but is generally to put pressure on the party targeted
to meet particular demands.
• This pressure is achieved by harming the business through loss of customers and
negative publicity, or by discouraging or preventing workers from entering the site
and thereby preventing the business from operating normally.
• Picketing is a common tactic used by trade unions during strikes, who will try to
prevent dissident members of the union, members of other unions and non-
unionized workers from working.
• Those who cross the picket line and work despite the strike are known as scabs.
• Disruptive picketing is where picketers use force, or the threat of force, or physical
obstruction, to injure or intimidate or otherwise interfere with either staff, service
users, or customers.
• Picketing, as long as it does not cause obstruction to public peace and security is
legal in many countries and in line with freedom of assembly laws.
 Counter-Industrial Actions by Employers
1.Strike preparation
 Salaried employees may be called upon to take the place of strikers, which may
require advance training of these employees.
 If the company has multiple branches, personnel may be redeployed to meet the
needs of reduced staff.
2.Strike breaking
• Some companies may see a strike as an opportunity to eliminate the union. This is
sometimes accomplished by the importation of replacement workers, or
strikebreakers.
 Historically, strike breaking has often coincided with union busting.
3.Union busting
 One method of inhibiting a strike is elimination of the union that may launch it,
which is sometimes accomplished through union busting. Union busting campaigns
may utilize the services of security agencies that provide asset protection services.
Similar services may be engaged during attempts to defeat organizing drives.
4.Lockout
 Another counter to a strike is a lockout, the form of work stoppage in which an
employer refuses to allow employees to work.
 Lockouts are, with certain exceptions, lawful under the laws of many countries.
Industrial Actions under Ethiopian Labor Law
• Meanings:- It will be pertinent to question at this point in time as to
how an ‘industrial action’ is considered as a dispute resolution
mechanism.
• This is because the purpose of industrial actions is to force or influence
the other party in dispute to accept the demands of the party taking the
action. If you see both Articles 136(4) and 136(5) respectively defining
‘lock out’ and ‘strike’, they define the terms as follows:-
• Lock-out:- means an economic pressure applied by closing a place of
employment in order to persuade workers to accept certain labor
conditions in connection with a labor dispute or to influence the
outcome of the dispute.
• Strike:- means the slow-down of work by any number of workers in
reducing their normal out put on their normal rate of work or the
temporary cessation of work by any number of workers acting in
concert in order to persuade their employer to accept certain labor
conditions in connection with a labor dispute or to influence the
• So, industrial actions as defined above are dispute resolution
mechanisms because
(1) they follow disputes and thus they are not disputes themselves,
(2) they serve just to force the other party to accept the other party’s
demands and to settle the matter, and
(3) they also serve as alternative mechanisms for the parties when
they are not able to use judicial forums.
• The Recognized Rights for Industrial Actions:- from the above
provisions of the law, and also from the provisions of Articles
157-160, we can understand that only the following are the
industrial actions recognized under Ethiopian labor law:-
 Strike:- Article 160(3) prohibits to accompany strike with
violence, threats of physical force or with any act which is clearly
and officially unlawful.
• Do you think this provision indirectly allows non-disruptive
picketing to be made by workers? Discuss and take your own
 Slow down:- does this industrial action under Ethiopian labor
law include actions like work-to-rule or overtime ban? Please
discuss and take your own position.
 Lock-out: - it seems that this action is defined under Ethiopian
law in terms of ‘closing a place of employment’. And Article
160(3) provides that it is prohibited to accompany lock-out with
any act which is clearly and officially unlawful.
 So, does this mean the employer cannot lock-out and at the same
time use other industrial actions like strike preparation and
strike-breaking? Please comment on this.
 Restriction to the Right:- workers and employers of essential
public services undertakings as defined under Article 136(2)
cannot take any of the industrial actions recognized in the law.
 As alternative to this, they can use the judicial forum of ad-hoc
labor relations Board for settlement of their disputes
 Conditions, Requirements, and Prohibitions for the Exercise
of the Rights:-
 Articles 158, 159, and 160 provide clear conditions, requirements, and
prohibitions for the exercise of the rights; which are the following:-
 Advance notice of 10 days to the other party indicating its reasons for
the action
 Advance notice of 10 days to the representative of MoLSA
 Amicable settlement:- effort to solve and settle their dispute through
conciliation
 Majority decision of members of the union
 Safety measures and accident prevention procedures should be taken
 Lapse of 30 days after favorable decision by board or court is
necessary
 Not to accompany with violence, threats of physical force, or with any
unlawful act
 Period of Limitation & Priority of Claims under Ethiopian
Labor Law
 Period of limitation:- it is a time bar to stop parties from taking actions
after the expiry of a certain period. There are various types of period of
limitations for various types of actions.
 Some limitations may be made on parties not to take any action which
they would be entitled to make if not for the expiry of the time.
 Some period of limitations may be made on parties not to take any court
actions after expiry of the time bar provided by law. The following can
be good examples for these periods of limitations:-
o Limitation on the right to terminate: - Article 27(3) provides a 30
working days period of limitation on employers; i.e. they cannot take
termination action after lapse of 30 working days from the date the
employer knows the ground for the termination.
o Limitation on the right to resign without notice:- According to Article
32(3) the worker’s right to terminate his contract without notice shall
lapse after 15 working days from the date on which the act occurred or
ceased to exist.
o Limitation on reinstatement:- a worker cannot claim for reinstatement after 3 months
lapsed from the date of termination (Art. 162(2)).
o Limitation on wages, overtime, and related payments:- will be barred by 6 months
after they become due. (Article 162(3)).
o Limitation on any kind of payment:- shall be barred 6 months after the termination
date. (Article 162(4)).
o Limitation on other claims related to employment: - shall be barred after one year
from the date on which the claim becomes enforceable. (Article 162(1)).
 It is important to know that any action taken before a judicial body or to any
enforcing government organ or any express recognition of the other party’s right
will interrupt the count of the period of limitation (see Article 164 of the labor
proclamation).
 In such events, the period of limitation shall start to count afresh.
 Besides, the concerned judicial body may disregard the lapse of the period of
limitations in the event of force majeure, such as illness and transfer of the worker
or call of the worker for national service (see Article 166).
• Priority Claims:-Article 167 provides that any payment claim of a worker arising
from employment relationship shall have priority over other payments or debts.
• However, it is important to know that this priority will not be operative with regard
to government claims for taxes, which will have priority over any claims pursuant to
the relevant law.
 THE END!!
THANK YOU!