Employment (Amendment) [No. 15 of 2015 1

1 Employment ( amendment )[No. 15 of 2015 1 EnactmentShort titleAn Act to amend the Employment Act.[3rd December, 2015 ENACTED by the Parliament of Act may be cited as the Employment ( amendment ) Act,2015 and shall be read as one with the Employment Act, in this Actreferred to as the principal the principal Act is amended (a)by the deletion of the definitions of casual employee , employee and Employment agency and thesubstitution therefor of the following: casual employee means a person whose Employment (a)is not permanent in nature;(b)does not require any skill in the performance ofthe work to be done; and(c)terms provide for payment at an hourly rate,payable at theend of each day; employee means a person who, in return for wages,enters into a contract of service whether on fulltime, part time or temporary basis or who isengaged to do casual work, but does not includea person employed u nder a contract ofapprenticeship made in accordance with theApprenticeship Act, an independent contractoror a person engaged to do piece work; Employment agency means a natural or legal personor an unincorporated body of persons providingone or more of the following labour marketservices:Cap.]]

2 268 Cap. 275 Amendmentof section 3 GOVERNMENT OF ZAMBIAACTNo. 15 of 2015 Date of Assent: 26th November, 2015 Single copies of this Act may be obtained from the Government Printer, Box 30136, 10101 Lusaka, Price No. 15 of 2015] Employment ( amendment )(a)matching offers of, and applicationsfor,employmen twithouttheemployment agency becoming a partyto the Employment relationship whichmay arise therefrom;(b)employing persons with a view tomaking them available to a third party,who may be a natural or legal personthat assigns their tasks and supervisesthe execution of these tasks; or(c)services relating to job seeking as maybe prescribed by the Minister, inconsultation with the TripartiteConsultative Labour Council, inaccordance with the Industrial andLabour Relations Act.

3 And(b)by the insertion, in the appropriate places, of the followingnew definitions: casual work means work that is not permanent innature, but excludes the exceptions specified insubsection (1) of sectiontwelveA; casualisation means the Employment of a personunder a contract of service for work which ispermanent in nature under terms and conditionsof Employment for a casual employee, butexcludes the exceptions specified in subsection(1) of sectiontwelveA; consultancy agreement means an agreementbetween two or more parties relating to therights and duties of the parties under which oneor more of the parties is an expert or are expertsengaged to do specialised work related to theexpert s professional or technical capacities; contract of service means an agreementestablishing an Employment relationshipbetween two or more parties whether expressor implied, and if express, whether oral or inwriting;Cap.

4 269 Employment relationship means a situation wherework is carried out in accordance withinstructions and under the control of anemployer and may include (a)the integration of the employee in theorganisation of the enterprise where thework is (i) performed solely or mainly for thebenefit of an employer;(ii) carried out personally by theemployee; and(iii) remunerated and constitutes theemployee s sole or principalsource of income; or(b)work (i) carried out within specific workinghours or at a workplace specifiedby the employer;(ii) which is of a particular durationand has a certain permanency;(iii) that requi res the worker savailability; and(iv) which requires the provision oftools, materials and machinery bythe employer; fixed-term contract means a contract of servicefor (a)a period exceeding twelve months,renewable for a further term, subjectto sectiontwenty-eight C; or(b)the performance of a specific task orproj ect to be un dertaken over aspecified period of time; and whosetermination is fixed in advance by bothparties; flexibalisation means an Employment trend that ischaracterised by different aspects of humanresource management, such as Employment ( amendment )[No.]

5 15 of 2015 3(a)pay flexibility, which is focused onperformancerela ted pay and paybargaining;(b)contractual flexibility, which is focusedmainly on nonpermanent contracts ofs e r vi c e , s u bc o n t r a c t i n g a n doutsourcing;( c )t a s k f l e x i b i l i t y, wh i c h a l l o w se mp l o y e e s t o p e r f o r m v a r i o u sactivities; and(d)working hours flexibility, whichf o c u s e s o n p a r t t i me w o r ki n g ,jobsharing and flexi hours of work; full-time means Employment under a contract ofservice that stipulates the maximum numberof statutory or conventional hours prescribedfor a week, month or year, but excludesovertime work; micro business enterprise has the meaningassigned to it in the Zambia DevelopmentAgency Act, 2006; permit means an Employment agency permitissued under sectionfifty-six; seasonal Employment means Employment undera contract of service where the timing andduration of the contract is influenced byseasonal factors such as climate, agriculturalor business peak cycle; short term contract means a contract of serviceof six months but not exceeding twelvemonths; single licensing system has the meaning assignedto it in the Business Regulatory Act, 2014; Small business enterprise has the meaningassigned to it in the Zambia DevelopmentAgency Act, 2006.

6 Temporary Employment means service under acontract of service where a person is engagedt o d o r e l i e f wo r k i n t h e a b s e n c e o f asubstantive employee, and may includeemployment which is part-time, but does notinclude a person engaged on a short-termcontract;4 No. 15 of 2015] Employment ( amendment )Act No. 11of 2006 Act No. 3 of2014 Act No. 11of 2006 part-time means Employment under a contractof service that stipulates working hours of atleast one-fifth less than the number of hours,prescribed under the Minimum Wages andConditions of Employment Act or as specifiedin a collective agreement made in accordancewith the Industrial and Labour Relations Act,for fulltime work calculated on a weekly,monthly or yearly basis; and permanent in nature means (a) Employment that exceeds six months,is not casual work and is under a writtencontract of service.

7 Or(b)a position in an undertaking that isnecessary for t he continued orsustainable operation of the undertakingor is core to the objectives of principal Act is amended by the insertion immediatelyafter sectiontwelveof the following new section: 12A. (1) For purposes of this Act and notwithstandingany other provision of this Act or other written law(a)the following shall not be casualisation:(i) work under a consultancy agreement;(ii) piece work;(iii) seasonal work;(iv) temporary Employment ;(v) part time work; and(vi) flexibalisation; and(b)the provisions of this Act, relating to casualisation,shall not apply to a micro or small businessenterprise; except that the undertaking shallcomply with the M inimum Wages andConditions of Employment Act with respect toits employees.

8 (2) A person shall not engage an employee for a jobwhich is permanent in nature on casual terms of Employment .(3) Any person who engages an employee for a jobthat is permanent in nature on casual terms of employmentcommits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a finenot exceeding one hundred and eighty thousand penalty ( amendment )[No. 15 of 2015 5 Insertion ofsection 12 ACap. 276 Casualisation,applicationandprohibitiono fcasualisationCap. 269 Cap. 276(4) A body corporate that engages a casual employeefor a job that is permanent in nature commits an offence andis liable, upon conviction (a)in the case of a first offence, to a fine notexceeding one hundred and eighty thousandpenalty units; or(b)in the case of a subsequent offence, to a fine ofthree hundred and sixty thousand penalty unitsor to imprisonment for a period not exceedingsix months, or to principal Act is amended by the insertion of thefollowing new sections immediately after sectiontwenty-eight:28A.]

9 Where a casual employee continues to be employedafter the expiration of six months, the employee shall ceaseto be a casual employee and the contract of service of thatemployee shall continue but shall be deemed to be a shortterm contract having effect from the day following theexpiration of the initial six an employee, who is engaged on a shortterm contract, continues to be employed after the expirationof the short-term contract, the short-term contract shall bedeemed to be a fixed-term (1) Subject to subsection (2), an employee sfixed-term contract may be renewed for subsequent terms,except that the cumulative duration of the successive fixed-term contracts of Employment with an employer shall be asprescribed.(2) Where an employee who is engaged on a fixed-term contract of service continues in Employment with thesame employer after the expiration of the prescribedcumulative period, the contract of service shall be deemed tobe a permanent contract.

10 (3) A fixed-term contract relating to an employee whois a professional registered with a professional body ormanagement staff of a prescribed category, shall, with thatemployee s consent, continue to be a fixed-term contract fora period specified in the contract.(4) The prescribed cumulative period may be jointlyaltered by employers and employees under a collectiveagreement specifying the reasons for the renewals of fixed-term No. 15 of 2015] Employment ( amendment )Deemingcontract ofservice to beshort-termcontractDeemingshort-termcon tract asfixed termcontractRegulation offixed termcontractInsertion ofsection28A, 28 Band the principal Act is amended by theinsertion (a)in paragraph(c)of subsection (1), immediately after thewords or otherwise , of the words except that wherethe termination is at the initiative of the employer, theemployer shall give reasons to the employee for thetermination of that employee s Employment .