Schedule 2- Currency Point.

THE EMPLOYMENT ACT, 2006. 

An Act to revise and consolidate the laws governing individual employment relationships, and to provide for other connected matters. 

DATE OF ASSENT: 24th May, 2006. 

Date of Commencement: See Section 1. 

BE IT ENACTED by Parliament as follows: 

PART I—PRELIMINARY 

1. Commencement 

This Act shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the Minister by statutory instrument. 

2. Interpretation 

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— 

“affiliatedunion”meansanyLabourUnionaffiliatedtoaFederationofLabour Unions; 

“business” includes any trade, profession, undertaking, operation or establishment, whether public, co-operative or private; 

“casualemployee”meansapersonwhoworksonadailyorhourlybasiswhere paymentofwagesisdueatthecompletionofeachday’swork; 

“child”meansapersonbelowtheageofeighteenyears; 

“Commissioner”meanstheCommissionerintheMinistryresponsiblefor labour; 

“continuousservice”meansanemployee’sservicewiththesameemployeras defined in Part VIII; 

“contractofapprenticeship”meansacontractofservice—

(a) where there is an obligation on the employer to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the employee is taught, and acquires, the knowledge and skills of that industry, by means of practical training receivedinthecourseoftheemployee’semployment;and 

(b) where there is a provision for formal recognition of the fact that the employee has acquired the knowledge and skills, intended to be acquired when the employee has done so; 

“contractofservice”meansanycontract,whetheroralorinwriting,whether express or implied, where a person agrees in return for remuneration, to work for an employer and includes a contract of apprenticeship; 

“currencypoint”meansthevaluespecifiedinrelationtocurrencypointin Schedule 2; 

“dependentrelative” means a memberofan employee’s family who substantially depends on that employee for his or her livelihood; “disability”meansanypermanent— 

(a) physical disability or impairment; 

(b) physical illness; 

(c) psychiatric illness; 

(d) intellectual or psychological disability or impairment; 

(e) loss or abnormality of physiological, psychological or anatomical structural function; 

(f) reliance on a guide dog, wheelchair, or any other remedial means; and (g) presence in the body of organisms capable of causing illness; “DisciplinaryCode”meansthecodesetoutinSchedule1; 

“dismissalfrom employment”meansthedischargeofanemployeefrom employment at the initiative of his or her employer when the said employee has committed verifiable misconduct; 

“employee”meansanypersonwhohasenteredintoacontractofserviceoran apprenticeship contract, including, without limitation, any person who is employed by or for the Government of Uganda, including the Uganda Public Service, a local authority or a parastatal organisation but excludes a memberoftheUgandaPeoples’DefenceForces. 

“employer”meansanypersonorgroupofpersons,includingacompanyor corporation, a public, regional or local authority, a governing body of an unincorporated association, a partnership,parastatal organisation or other institution or organisation whatsoever, for whom an employee works or

has worked, or normally worked or sought to work, under a contract of service, and includes the heirs, successors, assignees and, transferors of any person or group of persons for whom an employee works, has worked, or normally works; 

“forcedandcompulsorylabour”meansallworkorservicewhichisextracted from any person under the threat of a penalty, including the threat of any loss of rights or privileges and for which that person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily; 

“HIV”meansHumanImmune-Deficiency Virus; 

“IndustrialCourt”meanstheIndustrialCourtestablishedbytheTradeDisputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 2006; 

“labourofficer”meanstheCommissioneroraDistrictLabourofficer; 

“labourunion”meansalabourunionregisteredundertheLabourUnionsAct, 2006; 

“lightwork”meansworkthatisnotphysically,mentally,andsociallyinjurious to the child; 

“migrantworker”meansapersonwhomigratesorhasmigratedfrom one country to another with a view to being employed by another person and includes any person regularly admitted as a migrant worker; 

“mine”meansanyundertaking,whetherpublicorprivate,fortheextractionof any substance from on or under the surface of the earth by means involving the employment of persons underground; 

“Minister”meanstheMinisterresponsibleforlabourmatters; 

“payperiod”meanstherelevantperiod,whetherofaday,week,fortnightor month by reference to which an employee is entitled to receive his or her wages; 

“parties”meansthepartiestoacontractofservice; 

“President”meansthePresidentofUganda; 

“probationarycontract”meansacontractofemployment,whichisnotofmore than six months duration, is in writing and expressly states that it is for a probationary period; 

“publicservice”meansservicebyorfortheGovernmentofUgandaand includes persons employed in the public service, parastatal organisations and local authorities, but does not include a member of the Uganda Peoples’DefenceForces; 

“qualifiedmedicalpractitioner”meansaGovernmentmedicalofficerora registered medical practitioner;

“recruitment”includesalloperationsundertakenwiththeobjectofobtainingor supplying the labour of persons who do not continuously offer their services at the place of employment; 

“regulations”meansregulationsmadeundersection97; 

“terminationofemployment”meansthedischargeofanemployeefrom an employment at the initiative of the employer for justifiable reasons other than misconduct, such as, expiry of contract, attainment of retirement age, etc; 

“termination”hasthemeaninggivenbysection65; 

“unionmember”meansamemberofaLabourUnionorotherorganisation representative of the interests of workers; 

“wages”meansremunerationorearnings,howeverdesignatedorcalculated, capable of being expressed in terms of money and fixed by mutual agreement or by national laws or regulations, which are payable under an oral or written contract of service for work done or to be done, or for services rendered or to be rendered but excluding any contributions made ortobemadebytheemployerinrespectofhisorheremployee’s insurance, medical care, welfare, education, training, invalidity, retirement pension, post-service gratuity or severance allowance; 

“week”meansaperiodofsevenconsecutivedays. 

3. Application of the Act 

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, this Act applies to all employees employed by an employer under a contract of service. 

(2) This Act does not apply to— 

(a) employers and their dependent relatives when dependant relatives are the only employees in a family undertaking, as long as the total number of dependent relatives does not exceed five; and 

(b)theUgandaPeoples’DefenceForces, other than their civilian employees. 

 

 

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