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Somaliland Labour/Employment Law

[For laws relating to public employees, please see the bottom half of this page - updated 25 Feb 2012.]

PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES

The main Law covering private sector employment is the recently amended Private Sector Employees’ Law which covers all non-public employees, other than casual “daily” workers.  The law titled, in Somali, Wax ka Bedelka iyo Kaabista Xeerka Shaqaalha Rayidka (Xeer Lam 31/2004 - Private Sector Employees Law – Law No. 31/2004 (As amended 2008) .  This version of the Laws also  includes the Presidential Decree  No. 0431/032010 dated 02 March 2010 which brought the (amended) Law into force.

[A smaller pdf copy of the law (in Somali - is attached here.]

The law reduces the previous Law passed by the House in 2004 from 79 articles to 57, but covers broadly the same grounds.  The Law follows the model of the previous Somalian employment laws, such as the Labour Code No. 65 of 18 October 1972. It does, however, introduce new provisions, such as the positive quota for recruitment of employees from the excluded communities. The main chapters of the law are:

Chapter 1: General provisions

Chapter 2: Hours of work

Chapter 3: Holidays and rest periods

Chapter 4: Employees’ pay and emoluments 

Chapter 5: Employment Contracts

Chapter 6: Employees’ recruitment procedures

Chapter 7: The duties of employees and employers

Chapter 8: Dismissal and resignation of employees

Chapter 9: The employment of young persons

Chapter 10: Employees’ grievances

Chapter 11:  Health and safety in the work place 

Chapter 12: The structure of employees’ associations

Until an English language translation is available, the following subject matter table pointing to the relevant articles might be of some help:

Public Holidays

Article 12 of the Law sets out the paid public holidays totalling 11, but another day has been added under Ministerial Regulations. 

See : list of holidays here.

The Civil Code

Article 605 of the Civil Code (1973) defines contracts for labour as one involving agreement for labour or work in consideration for remuneration.  The Code also covers the general principles that underlie contractual obligations, but Article 605 of the Code states that a special law shall govern employment contracts. That law in respect of private employees is the above law. 

The Civil Code also covers liability for “tort” acts committed by employees.  Art. 171  of the code states that:

“1.  An employer is liable for the damage caused by an employee who commits  unlawful act in the course of, or in relation to,  his employment.

2.  The relationship between employer and employee exists even when the employer has not been free to choose his employee, provided he has actual powers of supervision and control over his servant.”
 

This  employer’s liability for unlawful tort acts was challenged in various cases relating to injury or death brought about by vehicle accidents where the employers of the drivers challenged this Article as being contrary to Islamic principles.  The Somaliland Supreme Court rejected such arguments and on 1 February 2005, the Chairman of the Supreme Court issued a Direction in which he re-confirmed the applicability of Article Article 171 of the Civil Code in respect of the liability of employers for the road traffic accidents caused by their employees. The Direction also confirmed that the monetary value of a camel, for the purposes of compensation, was equivalent to 200,000  Shillings .

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS

The ILO’s Governing Body has identified eight conventions as “fundamental”:

• Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)
• Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
• Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
• Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)
• Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
• Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)
• Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)
• Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111)

These principles are also covered in the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) (see section 3). In 1995, the ILO launched a campaign to achieve universal ratification of these eight conventions. There are currently over 1,200 ratifications of these conventions, representing 86% of the possible number of ratifications.

The ILO’s Governing Body has also designated another four conventions as “priority” instruments, thereby encouraging member states to ratify them because of their importance to the functioning of the international

labour standards system.  These are:

• Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81)
• Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129)
• Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144)
• Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122)

CONVENTIONS RATIFIED BY THE SOMALI REPUBLIC BEFORE MAY 1991:

 PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES

1. Civil Servants - 

The main law governing the conditions of employment of civil servant is the 1996 Somaliland Civil Service Law No. 7/96. A copy of the Law in English and Somali is attached here).

This Law which was issued under the 1993 Somaliland National Charter which did allow for the use of any post 1969 Somali Republic legislation states in its preamble that it was based on the 1962 Civil Service Law. (That 1962 law was subsequently amended many time and the last last pre 1991 Civil Service Law was Law No. 5 of 2/2/1980 which purported to cover all public employees (including public industrial workers and is no longer applicable to Somaliland).

The 1996 Somaliland Civil Service Law covers permanent civil servants and does not apply to local government employees and to members of the armed forces or the police and  corrections corps (see Article 2).

2. Local Government Employees:  Article 59(4) of the Regions and Districts Law (Law No. 22/2002, as amended) states that local government (and water Agencies) employees shall have a separate law which shall prepared by the Ministry of Interior and approved by the “Councils”.  There is a bill currently being considered by a House Committee.

• The last pre 1991 Regulations which specifically addressed separately local government employees were the Local Government Regulations  1973 - Decree No. 4 of 15 July 1973, which were slightly amended by  Decree No. 116 of 5 September 1974

Separate employment laws govern:

• The Armed Forces.
• The Police and the Corrections Services.
• The Judiciary and the Prosecution Service