LAW5606 Labour Law — Unit 1: Industrial Jurisprudence, Principles and Concepts of Labour Laws

Unit 1: Industrial Jurisprudence, Principles and Concepts of Labour Laws

1.1 Nature, Meaning, Scope, Evolution, Role and Features of Labour Jurisprudence

Labour law — the employment’s law: the worker-and-employer relation’s regulation (the individual relation: the contract’s terms — the wages, the hours, the security; the collective relation: the unions, the bargaining, the disputes). The nature: the protective law (the unequal-bargaining-power correction — the contract’s fiction of equality answered); the social-law character (the labour-and-social-justice constitution); the mixed sources (the statutes, the collective agreements, the customs, the jurisprudence). The evolution’s stages: the laissez-faire’s darkness (the industrial revolution’s exploitation — the child labour, the factory hours) → the protective legislation (the factory acts’ line — the state’s first interventions) → the collective era (the unions’ legalisation; the bargaining’s institutionalisation) → the welfare-and-rights era (the social security; the constitutional-and-international rights) → the modern challenges (the gig economy, the informal sector, the global supply chains). The role: the labour’s protection + the industrial peace (the production’s stability) + the social justice’s delivery. The features: the mandatory-minimums (the parties’ inability to contract-below); the specialised machinery (the labour courts, the inspectors); the dynamic growth (the new forms of work).

1.2 Sources of Labour Laws

1. The constitutional (the rights: the labour’s freedom-and-association faces; the directives: the labour policy’s aims).
2. The statutes (the Labour Act 2074; the Trade Union Act 2048; the Social Security Act 2074; the sectoral acts).
3. The delegated (the Labour Rules 2075; the bylaws; the orders).
4. The collective agreements (the bargaining’s products — the terms’ source in the enterprise).
5. The international (the ILO conventions-and-recommendations (U2); the treaties’ domestication).
6. The judicial (the labour jurisprudence — the Labour Court’s-and-SC’s decisions).
7. The customs-and-standards (the workplace practices; the industry norms).

1.3 Interpretation of Labour Laws

The labour law’s hermeneutics (the Interpretation course’s application with the special colour): the pro-worker canon (the ambiguity resolved for the worker — the protective purpose’s reading); the beneficial construction (the welfare provisions liberally read — the LAW5504 U4.2 canon’s labour home); the rights’ non-waivability (the minimums’ mandatory character — the “contracting-out” bar); the international standards’ interpretive aid (the ILO’s instruments read-in — the treaty-consistent presumption).

1.4 Concepts of Industrial Justice and Labour Court System

The industrial justice — the workplace’s own justice: the efficiency-plus-equity balance (the industrial relations’ stability through fairness); the specialised adjudication’s rationale (the labour disputes’ technicality-and-urgency — the ordinary courts’ unsuitability); the access’s design (the cheap-quick-informal forums). The labour court system (Nepal): the Labour Court (the specialised court — the disputes’ adjudication: the individual-and-collective disputes per the Act’s jurisdiction; the appeals-from-the-labour-office’s faces) — the appeal’s route to the High Court; the labour offices (the administration’s-and-conciliation’s first tier); the court’s character (the judicial-independence question — the specialised labour judge’s expertise). (The prescribed cases’ cluster: the Labour Court’s jurisdiction-and-review line — see U7.6.)

1.5 Some Fundamental Concepts Relating to Labour Laws

1.5.1 Basic Human Rights of Worker

The worker’s rights-as-human-rights: the non-discrimination (the equal pay-and-treatment); the freedom from forced labour; the child labour’s abolition; the safe workplace; the association’s freedom; the rest-and-leisure; the fair wages — the constitutional-and-ILO anchors (the HR course’s labour face).

1.5.2 Employment Policy

The state’s employment responsibilities: the full-employment’s aim (the directives’ faces); the vocational training; the employment services; the labour-market information; Nepal’s faces (the employment policies; the Foreign Employment Act’s migration machinery — the remittance economy’s governance).

1.5.3 Social Security

The risks’ socialisation: the sickness-maternity-invalidity-old-age-unemployment-family-survivors’ coverage (the ILO’s C102 architecture); the contributory-vs-universal designs; Nepal’s arrival (the Social Security Act 2074 — the contributory fund’s scheme; the informal sector’s gap).

1.5.4 Industrial Relations

The workplace’s relations system: the employer-worker-state triad; the conflict-and-cooperation’s mix; the institutions (the unions, the employers’ associations, the state’s machinery); the IR’s theories (the unitary-vs-pluralist-vs-marxist frames).

1.5.5 Managerial Rights

The employer’s functions: the direction (the work’s assignment); the discipline; the hiring-and-dismissal; the business’s reorganisation — the limits (the statutory protections; the collective agreement’s constraints; the fairness’s duties).

1.5.6 Trade Union Rights

The workers’ collective rights: the organise-and-bargain-and-strike trio (the C87-C98 core); the union’s security (the anti-discrimination protections); the Nepal frame (the Trade Union Act 2048; the constitutional association right).

1.5.7 Social Dialogue (Bi-Partism, Tri-Partism) and Collective Bargaining

The dialogue’s machinery: the bipartite (the worker-employer committees; the bargaining itself); the tripartite (the state’s chairing — the labour advisory bodies (U8.3)); the collective bargaining’s process (the representation’s certification; the demands’ presentation; the negotiation; the agreement’s term-and-enforcement).

1.5.8 Industrial Action

The pressure’s weapons: the strike (the workers’ collective refusal — the lawful-strike’s conditions: the notice, the ballot, the dispute’s prior-exhaustion); the lockout (the employer’s closure — the mirror weapon); the picketing (the persuasion’s edge); the limits (the essential services; the public order).

1.5.9 Unfair Labour Practice

The relations’ wrongs: the employer’s (the anti-union discrimination; the refusal-to-bargain; the retaliation); the union’s (the coercion; the restraint-of-trade’s excesses); the remedies (the labour court’s restoration powers).

1.5.10 Peaceful Settlement of Industrial Dispute

The disputes’ machinery (U7’s depth): the prevention (the works committees; the grievance’s handling); the conciliation-mediation; the adjudication; the principle: the industrial peace through the justice.

1.5.11 Protective Right of Some Special Group of Worker

The vulnerable’s special shield: the women (the maternity; the night-work-and-heavy-work rules; the equal treatment); the young-and-children (the minimum-age; the hazardous bar — the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 2056’s faces); the migrant workers (the recruitment’s regulation; the destination’s protection); the disabled-and-elderly workers’ accommodations.

1.5.12 Inter-Relation between Employer, Employee, Society and the State

The four-cornered web: the employer (the capital-and-management), the employee (the labour), the society (the community’s stake — the products, the environment, the standards), the state (the regulator-and-protector) — the labour law as the web’s balancer.

1.5.13 Role of Government

The state’s roles: the legislator (the standards’ setting); the administrator (the labour offices; the inspections (U8)); the conciliator-adjudicator (the dispute machinery); the employer (the public sector’s own practices); the promoter (the skills; the social security’s extension).

Model Questions

1. Explain the nature, evolution and role of labour law. (10)
2. Discuss the fundamental concepts: industrial relations, social dialogue and collective bargaining. (15)
3. How is labour law interpreted? Explain with the pro-worker canon. (10)
4. What is industrial justice? Explain the labour court system. (10)
5. Short notes: (a) Unfair labour practice; (b) Managerial rights; (c) Tripartism; (d) Special groups’ protection. (4×5)

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📚 Get the complete notes: Download the full Labour Law PDF (all units) — Law Info Nepal Original Notes Series.