Anes­sa An­der­son

Stu­dent, Hugh Wood­ing Law School

Work­ers in Trinidad and To­ba­go en­joy many le­gal rights. In this week's ar­ti­cle we look at some of these rights.

Min­i­mum wage

The Min­i­mum Wages Act Chap. 88:04 pro­vides for a na­tion­al min­i­mum wage for all work­ers gen­er­al­ly. This min­i­mum wage was re­cent­ly in­creased, ef­fec­tive Jan­u­ary 2015, to $15 per hour. Em­ploy­ees can re­port non-com­pli­ance by their em­ploy­er to their trade union or the Min­is­ter of Labour.

Health and safe­ty

Work­ers have of­ten downed tools in dis­sat­is­fac­tion with work­place con­di­tions. Un­der the Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Health and Safe­ty Act Chap. 88:08 em­ploy­ers must pro­vide a safe and healthy work en­vi­ron­ment, pro­tec­tive cloth­ing and equip­ment at no ex­tra cost, and ad­e­quate train­ing and su­per­vi­sion. Em­ploy­ees can refuse to work in un­safe en­vi­ron­ments. The Act cov­ers both pub­lic sec­tor and pri­vate sec­tor em­ploy­ees.

In­jury at work

When in­juries oc­cur at work be­cause of an em­ploy­er's wrong­ful or neg­li­gent act the Work­men's Com­pen­sa­tion Act Chap. 88:05 pro­vides for an em­ploy­ee in­jured on the job to make a claim–Sec­tion 4. Where death re­sults from the in­jury a de­pen­dant of the de­ceased may al­so bring a claim–Sec­tion 9. Fu­ner­al ex­pens­es may al­so be re­cov­ered.

Na­tion­al In­sur­ance

The na­tion­al in­sur­ance sys­tem pro­vides em­ployed per­sons with many ben­e­fits in­clud­ing as­sis­tance with ma­ter­ni­ty, sick­ness, fu­ner­al grants, sur­vivor­ship, in­va­lid­i­ty and em­ploy­ment in­jury. A work­er paid more than $180 per week must reg­is­ter and con­tribute to NIS. Em­ploy­ers who do not pay con­tri­bu­tions for their em­ploy­ees will be li­able un­der the Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Act Chap. 32:01.

Leave

Va­ca­tion leave with pay is a right. Paid sick leave, nor­mal­ly 14 days per year, is al­so a right. Un­der the Ma­ter­ni­ty Pro­tec­tion and the Mas­ters and Ser­vants Or­di­nance Bill a woman is en­ti­tled to 14 weeks paid leave and to re­turn to work in a po­si­tion no less favourable than that she left. If her ba­by died be­fore she left for ma­ter­ni­ty leave or in child­birth, she is still en­ti­tled to the rest of her ma­ter­ni­ty leave. A non-unionised em­ploy­ee al­leg­ing non-com­pli­ance has re­course to the Min­is­ter of Labour.

Pa­ter­ni­ty leave is not manda­to­ry by law but some in­sti­tu­tions have made it a part of their reg­u­la­tions. Male teach­ers, for ex­am­ple, are per­mit­ted four days leave around the time their part­ner or spouse is about to de­liv­er.

Non-dis­crim­i­na­tion

The Con­sti­tu­tion guar­an­tees cit­i­zens equal treat­ment from pub­lic au­thor­i­ties. The Equal Op­por­tu­ni­ty Act Chap. 22:03 adds an­oth­er lay­er of pro­tec­tion for all work­ers against dis­crim­i­na­tion in the work­place. An em­ploy­er can­not refuse em­ploy­ment or dis­crim­i­nate against em­ployed per­sons on grounds of sex, race, eth­nic­i­ty, ori­gin, mar­i­tal sta­tus, re­li­gion or dis­abil­i­ty. The Act does not, how­ev­er, cov­er dis­crim­i­na­tion on the ba­sis of sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion.

Em­ploy­ees al­leg­ing a breach may bring a com­plaint to the Equal Op­por­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion.

Dis­missal

A work­er is en­ti­tled to sev­er­ance pay if he is dis­missed from em­ploy­ment in cer­tain cir­cum­stances. Where an em­ploy­ee claims to have been wrong­ful­ly or un­fair­ly dis­missed, ul­ti­mate re­sort may be had ei­ther to the In­dus­tri­al Court or High Court.