LAW407 Labour Law — Unit 1: Introduction

Unit 1: Introduction

Syllabus coverage in this unit
1.1 Meaning and Scope of Labour Law · 1.2 ILO, its Origin and its Core Labour Standards · 1.3 Industrial Jurisprudence and Fundamental Rights of the Workers · 1.4 History of Labour Legislation in Nepal

1.1 Meaning and Scope of Labour Law

Labour law = the employment’s law: the worker-employer relation’s regulation — the individual relation (the contract’s terms: the wages, the hours, the security) and the collective relation (the unions, the bargaining, the disputes). Its nature: the protective law (the unequal-bargaining-power correction — the contract’s fiction of equality between the hungry worker and the resourced employer answered by mandatory minimums); the social-law character (the labour-and-social-justice constitution); the mixed sources (the statutes, the collective agreements, the customs, the jurisprudence). The scope’s map: the employment relationship’s whole life (the hiring → the terms → the discipline → the termination → the post-service benefits); the workplace’s conditions (the safety, the health, the welfare); the collective institutions (the unions, the agreements, the disputes’ machinery); the social security’s extension; the administration (the offices, the inspectors, the Labour Court). The scope’s honest limit: the formal sector’s bias — the economy’s large informality (the agriculture, the self-employed, the home workers) beyond the statute’s easy reach; the foreign employment’s parallel world (the migrants’ own statute).

1.2 ILO, its Origin and its Core Labour Standards

The origin: the 1919 Treaty of Versailles’ Part XIII (the social-justice-as-peace thesis — “poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere”); the 1946 specialised-agency status; the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize. The tripartite uniqueness: the governments-workers-employers’ equal seats (the only tripartite UN body): the International Labour Conference (the annual assembly — the standards’ adoption), the Governing Body (the executive), the International Labour Office (the secretariat). The functions: the standard-setting (the conventions-and-recommendations), the supervision (the reports-and-comments machinery), the technical cooperation, the research.

The core labour standards (the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work — the obligations even unratified; the 2022 additions):

1. The freedom of association and collective bargaining: C87 (1948) + C98 (1949);
2. The forced-labour elimination: C29 (1930) + C105 (1957);
3. The child-labour elimination: C138 (1973) + C182 (1999);
4. The non-discrimination: C100 (1951) + C111 (1958);
5. The 2022 additions: the OSH pair (C155 + C187 — the occupational safety’s fundamental status).
   The Nepal record: the majority ratified — including C98 (1996), C100, C111, C138, C182 — but not C87 (the gap the syllabus debates: the public servants’ association restrictions).

1.3 Industrial Jurisprudence and Fundamental Rights of the Workers

Industrial jurisprudence = the workplace’s own justice-theory: the efficiency-plus-equity balance (the industrial peace through fairness); the specialised adjudication’s rationale (the labour disputes’ technicality and urgency — the ordinary courts’ unsuitability; the cheap-quick-informal forums’ design); the interpretive canons: the pro-worker canon (the ambiguity resolved for the worker — the protective purpose’s reading), the beneficial construction (the welfare provisions liberally read), the rights’ non-waivability (the minimums’ mandatory character — the contracting-out bar). The workers’ fundamental rights (the constitutional anchors): the freedom of association and unionisation (the labour freedoms’ constitutional guarantee); the equality and non-discrimination (the equal pay for equal work — the Constitution’s specific command on the basis of sex); the prohibition of forced labour; the child-labour prohibition and regulation; the social security’s promise (the state policy’s directive — the contributory-and-universal trajectory); the dignity at work (the harassment’s prohibition; the safe workplace).

1.4 History of Labour Legislation in Nepal

The legislative history’s ladder:

1. The early industrial statutes: the Factory and Factory Workers Act 2016 (1959) — the first factory-regulation face; the Plantation Workers’ era’s sectoral faces;
2. The 1990 movement’s generation: the Trade Union Act 2048 (1992) — the unions’ statute (the legalisation of the independent unionism); the Labour Act 2048 (1992) — the consolidated employment-and-relations code; the Bonus Act’s profit-sharing world;
3. The specialised additions: the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 2056; the Foreign Employment Act 2064 (the migrants’ parallel world); the Child Care and Training Centre faces;
4. The modern consolidation: the Labour Act 2074 (2017) and the Labour Rules 2075 — the previous acts’ merger and modernisation (the employment forms, the OSH, the social security’s integration); the Social Security Act 2074 — the contributory scheme’s historic first; the Social Security Plan Operation Procedures 2075;
5. The current questions: the federal era’s three-level labour functions; the informal sector’s challenge (the economy’s 80%-plus informality); the gig economy’s arrival.

Model Questions

1. Define labour law and explain its nature and scope. (10)
2. Describe the ILO’s origin, structure and functions. (10)
3. Explain the ILO’s core labour standards and Nepal’s ratification record. (10)
4. Discuss industrial jurisprudence and the fundamental rights of workers. (10)
5. Short notes: (a) tripartism; (b) the 1998 Declaration; (c) pro-worker canon; (d) the Labour Act 2074. (4×2.5)

📚 Get the complete notes: Download the full Labour Law PDF (all units) — Law Info Nepal Original Notes Series (LL.B., 3-Year New Course, 2076/077 B.S.).