GROUP # 3

ASSIGNMENT:

Analysis to labour laws in

Pakistan

Submitted to:
Sir Usmaan Rafiq

Submitted by:
Faria Noor: 6846
Nimra Zafar: 6891
Sara Sarwar: 6869
Abstract
 Introduction

Labour laws are the laws relating to the rights and responsibilities of workers. Labour
laws deal with the disputes between the employer and employee, regarding wages, pension,
insurance of employees etc. Enforced by government agencies, legal rulings collectively cover
working people, their organizations, trade unions and employee unions. Also known as employment
law.
Under the Constitution labour is regarded as a ‘concurrent subject’, which means that it is the
responsibility of both the Federal and Provincial Governments. However, for the sake of uniformity,
laws are enacted by the Federal Government, stipulating that Provincial Governments may make rules
and regulations of their own according to the conditions prevailing in or for the specific requirements
of the Provinces.

Pakistan is the ninth largest country in the world which has one of the largest labour and manpower
resources. According to the statistics of CIA World Factbook, the total number of Pakistan’s labour
force is 57.2 million. Out of which 43% labour is working in Agriculture sector, 20.3% in industry and
the remaining 36.6% labour is involved in other services.
Pakistan gained independence from Britain and separated itself from India in 1947 (25). Since then, the
country has passed through a number of martial laws and democratic regimes (26). The leaders
determined the labour laws throughout their term of office which resulted variation in the labour laws
from government to government (27). However, most of the labour legislations are based on the
inherited legal framework of Britain. Many of the legislations were derived from colonial acts and
amendments, which were enacted from 1850 to 1947 and still exist as a part of the country’s labour
legislation (28). The newly independent country only inherited 9% of the total industry of India after
partition and very few of these industries were located in urban areas with fewer numbers of employees
as compared to India (29). Due to a smaller industrial base, a limited number of workers was affiliated
with industry as well as with the trade unions and workers movement. It is worth mentioning, that the
population of Pakistan was roughly 75 million at the time of independence and only 0.63% of the
population’s workers were engaged in industries. The table below gives a glimpse of the number of
workers registered under the Factory Act in some imperative industries in 1949
Distribution of Unionized Workers in 1949
Factories workers 184,752
Mines Workers 9,413
Railway Workers 135,000
Dock Workers 15,000
Shop Workers 16,000
Workers on Ships 125,000
Total Workers 482,165

Labour laws in Constitution of Pakistan

The Constitution of Pakistan contains a range of provisions with regards to labor rights found in Part II:
Fundamental Rights and Principles of Policy.
 

Article 11; Prohibition of Slavery, Forced Labour and Child Labour

Article 11 prohibits all kinds of forced labour, slavery, and child labour at hazardous places
1- Slavery is non-existent and forbidden and no law shall permit or facilitate its introduction into
Pakistan in any form.
2- All forms of forced labor and traffic of human beings are prohibited.
3- No child below the age of fourteen shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any hazardous
employment.
 

Article 17: Freedom of Association

Article 17 provides for a fundamental right to exercise the freedom of association and the right to form
unions;
1- Every citizen shall have right to form association or unions, subject to any reasonable
restrictions imposed by law in the interest of public order.
2- Every citizen not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of
political party subject to any reasonable restriction imposed by law in the interest and
sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan and such law provide that where the federal government
declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the
sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan, the federal government shall, within fifteen days of such
declaration refer the matter to the Supreme Court whose decision on such reference shall be
final.

Article 18: Freedom to Acquire any Occupation

According to this, all the citizens have right acquired any lawful possession or occupation and to carry
out any legitimate business or trade
 

Article 25: Right to Equality

Article 25 describes that all citizens have equal rights before the law and forbid any discrimination on
the basis of gender, creed, and gender. It lays down the right to equality before the law and prohibition
of discrimination on the grounds of gender alone;
1- All the citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of law.
2- There shall be no discrimination on the basis of gender.
3- Nothing in this article shall prevent the state from making any special provision (liability,
responsibility) for the protection of women and children.

Article 37: Provision for Just and Humane Working Conditions

Article 37(e) Specifies to shelter the humane working conditions for workers, and assuring not to
employee women or children in work, which is not suitable for their gender or age.
It makes provision (liabilities, responsibilities) for securing just and humane conditions of work,
ensuring that children and women are not employed in vocations (particular occupations) unsuited to
their age or gender, and for maternity benefits for women in employment.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

https://www.ilo.org/islamabad/aboutus/lang--en/index.htm
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a UN specialized agency which seeks the
promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. The ILO was
founded in 1919. Pakistan became its member in 1947.
The ILO registers complaints against entities that are violating international rules; however, it does not
impose sanctions on governments.

Objectives of ILO:
The ILO has four principle strategic objectives:
 to promote and realize standards and fundamental principles and rights at work;
 to create greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment;
 to enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all;
 to strengthen tripartism (involving three parties) and social dialogue.
ILO gives employees and workers’ representatives an equal voice with those of government in shaping
its policies and programs.

ILO & Pakistan:

The ILO’s work in Pakistan has ranged from supporting the ratification of international Labour
Standards to labour policy formulation, social security, labour administration, workers education,
occupational safety and health, elimination of bonded labour, women working rights etc.

Labor Laws that currently exists in Pakistan

There are four categories of Labor Laws prevalent in Pakistan, which are as follows:

a) Laws that regulate the relations between an employer and an employee. These are governed by the
Industrial Relations Ordinance, 2003
b) Laws that require contributions to be paid by the employers
c) Labor Laws that fix standards for wages
d) Labor Laws setting standards for workplace

Labor Laws setting standards for workplace

The acts which come under this category are as follows:

• The Shops and Establishment Ordinance, 1965

• West Pakistan Industrials and Commercial Employment (Standing Order) Ordinance,
1968
• The Factories Act, 1934
• The Employment (Record of Services) Act, 1951
• The Employment of Children Act, 1991

Factory Act 1934

The law relating to workers employed in factories is contained in the Factories Act, 1934. It extends to
the whole of Pakistan. It consists of two sections. After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, this law
has been adopted by the provinces.
 Health of Workers:

1. Cleanliness:
 Every factory shall be kept clean and free from effluvia arising from any drain, or any other
reasons.
 Dirt and refused shall be removed daily by effective methods. Work rooms must be cleaned
at least once every week.
 Drainage shall be provided.
 Inside walls, partitions, ceilings, tops of rooms, passages and staircases must be repainted at
least once in 5 years and cleaned at least once in 14 months.
 There must be white washing at least once in 14 months.

2. Water and effluents;

 Effective measures shall be made for the disposal of wastes and effluent resulting from the
manufacturing process carried on the factory.
 The provincial government may make rules prescribing the arrangements to be made in this
respect.

3. Drinking water;
 Suitable points must be provided and maintained for sufficient supply of wholesome
drinking water to all workers.
 Where more than 250 workers are ordinary employed, provision shall be made for cooling
the drinking water during hot weather.

4. Contagious or infectious diseases;

 The factory doctor will ensure that each worker is not suffering from any contagious or
infectious disease.
 The fee for examination of workers shall be borne by occupier of the factory.
 If a worker is suffering from such disease, he should not be appointed on work till it is
declared free of disease.

5. Vaccination and inoculation;

 Each worker in a factory must be vaccinated and inoculated against diseases.
 The expenses of vaccination and inoculation shall be borne by the occupier of the factory.
Section 23-A
6. Overcrowding
in a factory Innova crucial be overcrowded to any extent injurious to the health of the workmen. In
factories existing before the labour laws Ordinance 1972, there must be at least 350 cubic feet of space
for every worker. In factories build after this Ordinance, there must be at least 500 cubic feet of space
full stop in calculating the space, no account shall be taken of a space which is more than 14 feet above
the level of the floor of the room. (Section 18

Safety of workers:

1. Precautions against fire;

 Every factory must provide exit for escape in case of fire.
 The doors of the factory must not be locked while the factory is in operation and all doors must
open outwards.
 Alarms must be ready to warn the workers in case of fire.

2. Dangerous Machines:
 A child or adolescent shall not be allowed to work on a machine specified as dangerous by the
provincial government, unless he has been fully instructed and is under supervision of a person
with knowledge and experience of the machine section 28

3. Self-acting machine; in any factory, traversing part of a self-acting machine and material carried on
it shall not be allowed to run within a distance of 18 inches from any fixed structure, if the space over
which it runs is a space over which a person is liable to pass. Section 30

4. Cranes and lifting machinery; all parts of cranes and other lifting machines must be of good
construction and properly maintained. They must be thoroughly examined at least once a year and must
not be overloaded full stop the grain must be at a specified distance from the wheel track of the crane.

5. Pressure plant; where any operation is carried on at a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure,
steps must be taken to ensure that the safe working pressure is not exceeded
6. Safety of building; if the Inspector things that any building, machinery, plant or manufacturing
process is in such a condition that it is dangerous to health and safety of workers, he may order the
manager specifying the measures to be adopted. Section 33

7. Notice of accidents: where an accident occurs which causes death or injury where by any person
injured is prevented from resuming his work during 48 hours, the manager of the factory shall give
notice to the concerned authorities full stop section 33 n

8. Explosive or inflammable gas; where a manufacturing process produces inflammable gas, dost,
fume, etc. steps must be taken to include the machine concerned and prevent the accumulation of
substances and exclude all possible sources of ignition full stop the extra precautionary measures are to
be taken where such substances are worked upon at greater than the atmospheric pressure. Section 33 l
9. Appeals; when an inspector gives any order in writing to the manager or occupier of a factory, they
can make an appeal against search order within 30 days to the provincial government or t appointed in
this behalf. The authority may suspend the order or impose some conditions section 33 P

10. Shelters for rest; the provincial government may make rules in any factory where more than 150
workers are ordinarily employed, that an adequate shelter shall be provided for the workers during
periods of rest. In a specified factory where more than 50 women are generally employed, a suitable
room for the children under the age of 6 years must be provided. Provincial government may make
rules regarding certificate of stability, hazardous operations, maintenance of first aid appliances and
their proper custody and use. Section 33 q

Working hours:

1. Daily hours; no adult worker shall be allowed to work in a factory for more than 9 hours and had a
full stop however, a male adult worker make work for 10 hours a day in a seasonal factory. Section 36

2. Weekly hours
A worker in a factory shall not be allowed to work for more than 48 hours in a week. In a seasonal
factory, the worker shall not be allowed to work for more than 50 hours in a week. If, for technical
reasons, the work continues throughout the day, a worker may be allowed to work for 56 hours in a
week Section 34

3. Sunday holiday:
No worker shall be allowed to work in a factory on Sunday unless he takes a holiday on any of the
three days immediately before or after that Sunday. The manager of a factory must inform the Inspector
and display a notice in this respect. Section 35

4. Double employment: Any adult worker shall not be allowed to work in any factory on any day on
which he has already been working in any other factory except under specified circumstance. Section
48

5. Overtime work:
If a worker in a non-seasonal factory works for more than 9 hours in a day, for more than 48 hours in a
week, he shall be entitled to overtime pay at the rate twice his ordinary rate of pay. If worker in a
seasonal factory works for more than 9 hours in any day for more than 50 hours in any week, he shall
be entitled to overtime at the rate twice his ordinary rate of pay.

6. Intervals for rest the periods of work of adult workers in a factory during each day shall be so 6th
either; section 37
A. That no period shall exceed 6 hours and that no worker shall work for more than 6 hours before he
takes and interval for rest of at list 1 hour, or
B. That no period shall exceed 5 hours and that no work official work for more than 5 hours before he
takes an interval for rest of at least half an hour before he has at least two such intervals

Women workers:

1. Machinery in motion; women shall not be allowed to clean, lubricate or adjust any part of the
machinery while in motion, or work between moving parts, or between moving and fixed parts of
machinery in motion.

3. Suitable room where more than 50 women workers are ordinarily employed, a suitable room shall
be provided for use of children less than 6 years of age

4. Working hours: a woman shall not be allowed for required to work for more than 9 hours in a day
and no exemption in this respect will be granted.
5. Working time; a woman shall not be allowed to work except between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. if
employer provides transport, women may work up to 10 p.m. in two shifts.
However, the provincial government Mein allowed to work between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. in special
cases

Challenges Faced by Women Workers

In the past few decades, the role of women in our society has been drastically changed.
Women can be seen as fighter-jet pilots, educationists, customer services head, company
executives, admin heads, banking, HR and telecom sector. Women are making a tremendous
contribution in each sector. Men are no longer considered as the only bread earner of the
house. Women of the family are now also financially supporting their family. Though the
number of working women is increasing day by day but still there are certain barriers that they
have to cross to prove themselves beneficial for the job market.

Gender based discrimination:

Working men are usually given unfair advantage in comparison to the working women. In this
male dominating society, men are considered more hardworking, intelligent and better
employees than women. This gender discrimination result in increased level of stress and job
dissatisfaction. It also decreases motivation to work and commitment towards the job.

Basically women are given lesser opportunities for quality education which in turn results in
lack of knowledge regarding technological advancement.

Domestic Restrictions:

Earlier women were restricted to their home and their primary role was to take care of
household chores. With time, due to increase in economic pressures on families this
restriction has been released. Now in most of the families women are also allowed to get
higher education and do paid jobs but under certain restrictions. The maximum percentage of
working women can be seen as health workers, educationist, clerks or any other low paid job
that are not much preferred by men because of the lack of growth opportunities and low pay-
scale. Women are allowed to do such jobs because of the female dominant environment. This
thing has restricted the woman's exposure to other available opportunities and limited their
growth in the developmental sector. After all day of work at office, no matter how tired they
are, they also have to look after domestic chores.  

Harassment at work place:

Harassment is another main problem faced by working women, as they are considered an
easy target by the male colleagues. Most of the women in Pakistan came out of their house to
earn money only at the time of extreme need, they are much vulnerable and colleagues and
higher management harass them by passing inappropriate remarks or making fun of them or
in extreme cases they harass them sexually.

Lower Pay-scale:

The employer should ensure that uniform wages should be paid to both men and women on
an equal amount of work done. In many workplaces, employees are not allowed to discuss
their salaries because of which no one ever comes to know if they are paid less or not.
Bullying, harassment and abusing are vivid acts but lower wages is a silent offense, no one
makes any complaint and the problem continues.

Women are paid less because employer has this preset concept that she will quit the job after
marriage or after having children. Women earn low also because they have to choose a less
challenging job for themselves so they can spend more time at home. Parenthood affects the
woman's career adversely in contrast to men.

The organization should offer some family-friendlier policy and also make sure equal wages
should be given to the employees without gender discrimination. Remaining silent on such act
means that we are silently supporting this crime.

What they need to do?

To face challenges successfully, women need to be self-confident and should keep herself up
to date with the latest happenings in the world of technology. The internet has now solved the
problem of limited opportunities, as every internet savvy person can access to the world of
knowledge and information. So women should keep surfing the internet to increase their
knowledge. Good communication skill is also a necessity; it helps in building social network
which in turn helps in appraising whenever there are new opportunities available. Meeting
deadlines is also important to prove yourself worthy. Another most important thing is to
maintain balance in work and personal life.

Also there is a need to educate men and tell them to respect other women like they respect
women in their family. They should show flexibility in their attitude and should accept that
women can perform even better than them.
Holidays with pay:

1. Annual holidays; every worker who has completed a period of 12 months continuous service in a
factory shall be allowed, during subsequent period of 12 months holidays for a period of 14
consecutive days

2. Casual leave every worker shall be entitled to casual leave with full pay for 10 days in a year

3. Sick leave; every worker shall be entitled to 16 days sick leave on half average pay in a year

4. Festival holidays every worker shall be allowed holidays with pay on all days declared by the
provincial government to be festival days. Worker may be required to work on any festival holiday but
1 days additional compensatory holiday with full pay and a substitute holiday shall be allowed to him.

5. Compensatory holidays; where a worker is deprived of any weekly holidays, he shall be allowed
compulsory holidays of equal number to the holidays so lost .

Penalty and procedures; in case of a violation of the Factories Act 1934, the manager and occupier of
the factory shall be punishable with fine which may extend to Rs. 500. However, if both the manager
and occupied are convicted, the aggregate of fine in respect of the same contravention shall not exceed
this amount. However, the penalties may be enhanced in certain cases.

Child workers:

Minimum Age for Employment

Article 11.3 of the Constitution of Pakistan says " No child below the age of fourteen years
shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment." Similar
safeguards have been provided in Article 37of Constitution. Section 50 of Factories Act 1934
reads as under: "Prohibition of employment of young children. - No child who has not
completed his fourteenth year shall be allowed to work in any factory."                                      

The children under the age of 14 years cannot be employed in any public or private industrial
undertaking containing  process  dangerous to life, health or moral of children under the
provisions of the said laws. The Employment of Children Act, 1991 has provided a schedule
of hazardous occupation and processes where the employment of children under the age of
14 years is totally prohibited. The child worker is, however, permitted to work as a member of
the family engaged in any process not declared hazardous under Section 3 of the said Act. 

Minimum Age for Hazardous Work

The Employment of  Children Act 1991 prescribes 4 occupations and 34 processes wherein
employment of children (under the age of 14) is prohibited. It does not set a higher minimum
age for hazardous work. These include transport of passengers or goods; underground
mining; manufacturing; mixing and applying pesticides and insecticides;  stone crushing;
scavenging including hospital waste; working at railway stations or ports; carpet weaving;
spice grinding; working in boiler house; deep-sea fishing; construction; working in the glass
bangle industry and manufacturing cement, explosives, and other products that involve the
use of toxic substances. Night work and overtime work is also prohibited under new
legislation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. 

Issues regarding Child Labour

Children work in carpet making, garages, welding, shoeshine, garbage collecting, fresh flower sales,
and the chemical sector. Most children working in garages use petrol as the solvent to clean auto parts.
This poses numerous hazards to their health, specially because petrol is highly inflammable.
Welding is often carried out near their work stations, and results in burns to children. Inhalation and
skin absorption of petrol fumes pose multiple health hazards such as depression, low red cell counts,
de-fatting of skin and even cancer due to benzene in the petrol. Breathing petrol fumes can also be
addictive
Children are forced to work in completely unregulated conditions without adequate food, proper wages
and rest. They are also subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse. According to a survey
conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics and the National Child Labour, approximately 19 million
children below 14 years of age are working as child labourers in Pakistan.
The main reason behind child labor is poverty. This is mainly because limited resources are
available for the person to get a job or even if they find one their salaries are much lower
compared to inflation in Pakistan. Poverty levels in Pakistan appear to necessitate
that children work in order to allow families to reach their target take‐home income, which
they need to buy their butter and bread. On the side of the firms, the low cost
of child labor gives manufacturers a significant advantage in the marketplace, where they
work on improbable amounts.

Factors such as poverty, lack of social security and the increasing gap
between the rich and the poor have adversely affected children. We have
failed to provide universal healthcare and proper education, which results
in children dropping out of schools and entering the labour force.

Recommendations

How can the government overcome this at community and household level? One way could
be: the child can work with his/her family in family based trades/occupations, for the purpose
of learning a new trade/craftsmanship or vocation. By providing alternative opportunities for
vocational training and education to children, providing viable alternative economic
opportunities to poor families was an important aspect of the program to create a substitute to
the income brought in by children’s work and thereby enable the children to go to school.
Raising awareness among employers of children and their parents by the importance of
education and the hazards children face in the workplaces and the consequences of these, is
also extremely important.

there is a need to mobilise public opinion with the aim to bring about an
effective policy initiative to abolish child labour in all its forms. In fact,
elimination of child labour needs a holistic approach. It should be
investigated why children have to work to support their families and why
they do not go to school.

Conclusion

Child labor is curse to Pakistani society as well as our economy. The future of the
community is in the wellbeing of its children. It is required to save children for social
injustice and educational deprivation. The children are working as a labor in school
going age for the survival of their families and to full fill the basic necessities. People
don’t know the importance of education. That’s why most of children remain illiterate
Awareness must be raised and parents should pay attention to the education of their
children. Child Labor Laws should be strictly put into practice If we want success
then we have to act upon these principles and then our country can easily get rid of
this problem. We have to distribute the education free of coast, give flame to the
candle of education and distribute the light of knowledge among the people as our
Holy prophet (PBUH) also says that “get knowledge and distribute among others.”

Issues
 1. Complete lack of accountability for poor working conditions

Working conditions in smaller factories are usually worse than those in larger ones that are
more likely to be inspected. However, violations of labour rights including long working
hours and extended temporary employment without job security or benefits even in large
Pakistani factories, including some that supply garments to international retailers and
brands, was well-documented.

2. Irregular hiring practice/ Absence of written contracts

The use of verbal contracts is alarmingly widespread throughout the garment industry. Not
having an employment contract makes it very difficult for workers to demand employment
benefits or to enforce terms of employment. It is common practice to hire workers on a
“piece-rate” based on a production quota, this adds to worker insecurity because it takes
away the guarantee of a fixed income. It is also often used as a disciplinary measure to
enhance productivity.

3. Forced overtime

Factories routinely compel workers to work beyond the legally permissible nine hours, and
in many case without extra pay. The absence of a written contract and a formal appointment
letter makes workers vulnerable to retaliation for refusing to work overtime.

4. Lack of breaks and medical leave

Several workers also informed that the factory management deny adequate breaks to the
workers on grounds of “productivity.” Workers are even denied breaks to drink water or use
toilets

5. Unsanitary conditions in the factories

Many of the workers complained about unsanitary conditions in the factories, including
dirty drinking water, substandard food, no provision of medical assistance, and
overcrowding but the managers themselves give the medicine and then deduct the cost from
the salary of the workers
 6. Challenges for women

Women workers are exceptionally dis-empowered and discriminated against in the garment
industry. Many women are employed as contract, piece-rate, non-unionized workers in low-
paid and low-skilled roles. Women workers asserted that in practice there is no maternity
leave since pregnant women are either fired or themselves leave the job for a few months.
Unemployment, illiteracy, poverty, abuse of human rights, exploitation, child
labour, declining living standards and other social issues seem to threaten women
especially. Women are not aware about OHS and labour laws, even graduates and
professionals. A study by a university said 64 percent of women are unaware of
the basic and constitutional law.

We must demand the government establishes Health and Safety Council be set up
at national, provincial and plant levels to ensure that lives and health of workers
are protected.

7. Outsourcing to home-based women workers

Some factories producing for domestic brands use home-based workers for special orders or
on a seasonal basis. Women working from home are often denied labour law protections.
They are not able to join factory unions, and their work remains largely unregulated and
vulnerable to middlemen, who often refuse to pay minimum wage. No province apart from
Sindh has taken meaningful steps to protect the rights of home-based women workers.

8. Incapacity and complicity of government labour protection

mechanisms

The provincial labour departments are completely inefficient and, in many cases, complicit.
Labour inspections happen very rarely and almost never unannounced. According to one
estimate there are only 537 labour inspectors in the country for 350,000 factories in the
country and only 17 women labour inspectors.
 Social Security Ordinance 1965

The law relating to employees social security is contained in the provincial employee’s social Security
Ordinance 1965. This Ordinance was adopted by the provinces after the 18th Constitutional
Amendment. It has 82 sections

Social security benefits:

The following Social security benefits are available to secured persons

1. Sickness benefit;
Secured person, is certified by medical practitioner to be incapable of work due to sickness coma shall
be entitled to receive sickness benefit if he has paid contribution for at least 90 days during 6 calendar
months immediately preceding his incapacity to work.
Such benefit shall be allowed for a period up to 365 days if he is suffering from TB for cancer comma
and 121 days for any other disease full stop no benefit shall be given for first two days of sickness if
such fitness does not within 15 days follow the previous period of sickness for which he received such
benefit

2. Maternity Benefit;
a secured person is entitled to receive this benefit provided contribution was paid or payable for not
less than 180 days during the twelve months immediately preceding the expected date of her
confinement. This benefit is payable for all days on which she does not work during the period of 12
weeks of which not more than 6 shell proceed the expected date of confinement

3. Funeral grant on the death of secured person, the person entitled to receive such benefit shall be
entitled to funeral grant according to regulations.

4. Iddat benefit:
Where the husband of a secured woman dies, she shall be entitled to receive iddat benefit equal to the
daily rate of her wages during the period of her iddat. Secured women being a seasonal employee shall
be entitled to receive this benefit in the same manner
5. Medical care
Secured person and his dependents shall be entitled to medical care. The secured women shall also be
entitled to prenatal confinement and postnatal medical care if during the six months preceding her
claim, contributions were paid or payable for not less than 90 days

6. Injury benefit;
Secured person is entitled to receive injury benefit. The secured shall receive this benefit from the day
he suffers employment injury stop this benefit is payable for a maximum period of 180 days

7. Disablement pension;
A secured person whose total or partial disablement shall be entitled after the expiry of his entitlement
to injury benefit, to receive disablement pension. The disablement pension shall terminate with the
death of the secured person or when this disablement ceases. Disablement pension shall be payable for
life if the same has been paid for five years

8. Survivors pension;
The survivors pension is payable to the dependents according to the rate of total disablement pension
which was payable to deceased person. When the deceased person does not leave a widow, the
survivor’s pension shall be payable to the dependent father or mother if they are alive coma at a rate
equal to one fifth of the rate of the total disablement pension. The survivor’s pension shall terminate
a. upon death of the survivor
b. If survivor is a widow upon her remarriage
c. If survivor is a dependent child, upon attaining 21 years of age in case of a male child and
upon attaining 19 years of age in case of female child

9. Death Grant; where a secured person dies while receiving injury benefit for total disablement
pension, the widow, widows or if there are no window or needy widower’s the person who provides for
funeral shall be entitled to a death grant.

ANALYZE: Pensions in Pakistan are provisions which are provided to retired employees. Because

only the retired formal sector mostly benefits from pensions, most of the social schemes and retirement
welfare system in the country cover a small proportion of the old-age population, whereas a significant
proportion of the elderly population working in the informal sector remains largely unprotected by these
social security schemes. There have been calls for devising and implementing reform in the pension sector
of the country in a way where there is efficient deployment of resources and the eligible, yet economically
disadvantaged portion of the retired population, is also entitled to receive and be endowed with this social
security right

• The payment of wages act, 1936

The Payment of Wages Act 1936 was come in to the force on 23rd April 1936.This Act was passed to
regulate the payment of wages for certain classes of persons employed in industry. It ensures payment
of wages in a particular form and at regular intervals without unauthorized deductions.
Wages, as defined under the payment of wages act, 1936. The act applies to the payment of wages to
persons employed in any factory and to persons employed ( otherwise than in a factory) upon any
railway by a railway administration either directly or through a subcontractor, by a person fulfilling a
contract with a railway administration.
Objectives of the payment of wages act 1936:
 To regulate the payment of wages to certain class of employed person.
 Regulation completed by the Act is to fold
1. The date of payment of wages.
2. The deduction from wages whether fine or otherwise.
 Industrial establishment
 To ensure payment of wages to persons who covered by the Act certain provisions have been
made in this Act

Wages:
The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 regulates the payment of wages to certain classes of persons
employed in any factory, industrial establishment or commercial establishment. Every employer
including a contractor is responsible for the payment to persons employed by him of all wages required
to be paid and the wage period should not exceed one month and should be paid before the expiry of
tenth day. In case of termination of employment of any person, the wages earned by him shall be paid
before the expiry of the second working day on which his employment is terminated. All wages shall
be paid in current coins or currency notes or in both.
Responsibility of payment of Wages:
Every employer including a contractor including a contractor shall be responsible for the payment of
persons employed by him of all wages. In the case of persons employed otherwise than by a contractor
the following persons are responsible for the payment of wages.
1. In factories managers are responsible
2. In industrial establishment s, the person responsible for the supervision and control of the
industrial establishment.
 3. In the railway, the person who is nominated by railways in this behalf he is responsible for the
payment of wages.

Time of payment:
1. According to act 1936 in railway, factory or industrial establishment employing less than 1000
persons , wages shall be paid before the expiry of the 7th day after the last day of the wage
period in respect of which the wages are payable.
2. In all other factory or industrial establishments wages must be paid before the expiry of the 10th
day from the last day of the wage period.
3. Where the employment of any person is terminated, his wages shall be paid before the expire of
the 2nd working day from the day which his employment is terminated.
4. The Provincial Government may exempt persons employed in a railway from operation of this
law.
5. All payment of the wages shall be made on a working day.

Issues:
Deductions which may be made from wages.
Every payment made by the employed person to the employer or his agent shall, for the purposes of
this Act, be deemed to be a deduction from wages. Deductions from the wages of an employed person
shall be made only in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and may be of the following kinds.
(a) Fines:
1. Fine can be imposed on the employee for acts or omissions which are specified in a list
approved by provincial government or the prescribed authority.
2. A list of fine must be exhibited in the place of work in a prescribed manner.
3. The employee must be given an opportunity to show case before any fine is imposed
4. The total amount of fine imposed in any one wage-period must not exceed 3% of the wages
payable.
5. No fine shall be imposed on a person who is under the age of 15 years.
6. No fine imposed can be recovered from wages in installments or after the expiry of 60 days
from the day on which it was imposed.
7. All fines and recoveries shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the person responsible for
the payment of wages.
8. Fine recovered shall be spent on the welfare of the employee.

(b)Deductions for absence from duty:

A person is deemed to be absent from duty if he is physically present within the permitted for
absence from duty.
The ratio between the amount of such deductions and the wages payable must not exceed the
ratio between the period of absence.
(c)Deductions for damages to or loss:
 Deductions for damages to or loss of goods expressly entrusted to the employed
person for custody; or for loss of money for which he is required to account, where such damage
or loss is directly attributable to his neglect or default.
(d)Damage or loss:
Deductions shall not exceed the amount of the damage or loss for house-accommodation
supplied by the employer.
(e)Service render:
Deductions for such amenities and services supplied by the employer as the Provincial
Government may, by general or special order authorize.
(f)Advances and over payment of wages:
Deductions for recovery of advances or for adjustment of overpayments of wages of
employees.
(g)Cooperative Societies and insurance scheme:
Deduction made for payments to cooperative societies approved by the provincial
government or to scheme of insurance maintained by Pakistan Post office.
(h) Income Tax:
Deductions of income-tax Payable by the employed person.
(i) Order of a Court
Deductions required to be made by order of a Court or other authority competent to make
such order.
(j)Provident Fund:
Deduction made by the contributions payable by the employed person to the provident fund.
(k)Written Authorization:
Deduction made with written authorization of the employed person, the saving scheme approved
by Provincial Government for the purchase of securities of the Government of Pakistan or the
Government of UK

In the above cited case an engine driver Mir Mohammad who used to draw a salary of Rs. 68/- p.m. up
to September was reduced for three months, one incremental step from Rs. 68/- p.m. for unsatisfactory
working and delinquencies committed before September. It was held that it was an unauthorized
deduction under the Payment of Wages Act.
 The minimum wages ordinance, 1961:
Wages, as defined under the Minimum Wages Ordinance 1961, mean all remuneration, expressible in
monetary terms, and payable to a person on fulfillment of the express or implied terms of employment
contract but does not include contributions paid by the employer on behalf of the worker under any
scheme of social insurance, pension fund or provident fund; travelling allowance or value of any
travelling concession; amount paid to defray special expenses incurred by the worker in respect of his
employment; any sum paid as annual bonus; or any gratuity paid on contract termination. Minimum
Wages Ordinance, 1961 applies to all industrial establishments’ employees (whether skilled, unskilled
or apprentices and even domestic workers) but it excludes the employees of Federal or Provincial
governments, coalmine employees or persons employed in agriculture.
Increase in Wages:
Minimum wages for semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled workers are determined by the Minimum
Wage Boards constituted under the Minimum Wages Ordinance, 1961.The said notification provides
minimum wage rates for ministerial, highly skilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers in the 102
industries based in the province. Similar detailed notifications have yet to be issued by the other
Provincial governments.
For the last couple of years, the trend has been to increase workers' minimum wages while announcing
the federal and provincial budgets instead of announcing a wage increase for private sector on May
Day. In his Federal Budget 2017-18 speech, the Federal Finance Minister announced the increase of
minimum wage for private sector workers from PKR14,000 to PKR15,000 per month. The Provincial
Budgets in all the Provinces except Sindh followed suit and increased minimum wage for unskilled
workers in line with the increase announced by the Federal Government.
Minimum Wages are determined at the provincial level. Section 4 of Minimum Wage Ordinance, 1961
allows Minimum Wage Boards, for each province, to recommend minimum wage rates for adult
unskilled workers and juvenile workers employed in industrial undertakings. Section 5 of MW
Ordinance gives the power to each province's MW Board to fix MW rate even for workers in industries
where there is no effective regulation of wages. The list of industries covered also varies from province
to province. The Government can fix the wage rate for skilled workers because Section 2(9) defines
worker as "skilled or unskilled, intellectual, technical, clerical, manual, or other work including
domestic work for hire or reward". So, it has the authorization to do that.
According to section 5 (3) of minimum wages Ordinance, 1961, minimum wages Board can fix
minimum wages for time work, piece work, overtime work and work on weekly rest day and paid
holidays. The time rates recommended by the Board may be on hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Provincial government establishment
Section 3 of the MW Ordinance, 1961 requires the provincial governments to establish a minimum
wages board that will recommend minimum wage rates. The Minimum Wages Board comprises of a
Chairman, an independent member and one member as employer's representative and one as workers’
representative. All the members are appointed by the provincial government. Provincial government
also have to appoint one member as representative of employers and workers each at the industry level
for all the industries for which minimum wages have to be notified.
 As per section 7 of the MW Ordinance, 1961, MW Board can review its minimum wage
recommendations if there are any changes in economic conditions or the cost of living and further
recommend it to Provincial Government. However, in norm, it is a political decision and in the recent
past, provinces have tried to increase minimum wages just to outdo the other provinces or the federal
government.
Recommendations regarding wages under the ordinance 1961:
section 7 of minimum wages Ordinance, 1961, no recommendation regarding of minimum wages will
be considered before 1 year and after 3 years. Only under very special circumstances revision of before
a year can be considered. However, it is important to note that this is only for a recommendation that
Board sends on its own to the Government. Government can send the reference to the Board anytime
for revision of wages.
According to section 7 of the minimum wages Ordinance, 1961 minimum wage rates are reviewed if
there is any change in the economic conditions or cost of living or other relevant factors. Cost of living
here can be interpreted as consumer prices because whenever there was a change in level of consumer
prices, minimum wage rates were revised (raised). Economic conditions can be interpreted as decent
living standards.
Issues:
Amendments
Government has to ensure that minimum wage rates fixed under the law are publicized widely to all
workers and employers. Government may also require the employers, to display the minimum wage
rates in prominent places in a factory, workshops or other workplace, notices in Urdu, English or any
other language specified in the order.
https://paycheck.pk/labour-laws/wages-work
http://khalidzafar.com/laws-of-pakistan/payment-of-wages-act-1936/

Issues related to health and safety of workers.

ILO reports indicate that while 2.2 million people die every year due to work-related accidents
or illnesses, more that 270 million workers are injured and estimated 160 million suffer work-
related illnesses.
Causes: According to new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO),
Changes in working practices, demographics, technology and the environment are creating
new occupational safety and health (OSH) concerns. Growing challenges include
psychosocial risks, work-related stress and non-communicable diseases, notably circulatory
and respiratory diseases, and cancers. Death caused by hazardous substances at work is all
time high linked to 1 million preventable deaths worldwide each year which is unacceptable.

comprehensive information regarding the intrinsic health hazards of the vast majority of
industrial chemicals continues to be absent, including their ability to cause cancer, to be
mutagenic or to be toxic for reproduction Continued exposure of workers to such chemicals
not only constitutes a challenge to the rights of these workers to information, but also may
amount to exploitation by deception. Without such information about toxic exposures at work,
this further limits the rights of workers to realize other related rights.

Affects: Recent tragic workplace accidents in Baldiya Factory Karachi and Ship breaking
yards at Gaddani Baluchistan show that, health and safety of workers is not prioritized by
employers and enforcement agencies of the government. Occupational accident victims
specially women and young people are even being further marginalized as they find it even
harder to find long term unemployment or forced to take precarious work that is low paid,
unprotected and hazardous.

No data about occupational health and safety (OHS) are available in Pakistan because the majority of
accidents are not reported to the Labour Department. Diseases and accidents in the work place are an
appalling tragedy. The incidence of occupational diseases and injuries is very high in Pakistan because
thousands of workers are routinely exposed to hazardous chemicals.
It is well known that healthy workers are most productive. The introduction of hazardous technologies
in industry and agriculture have resulted in high accident rates, occupational diseases, and unhealthy
working environments. Most workers are illiterate and do not know what protective measures should
be adopted for their jobs. This results in an increasing toll of work related accidents and diseases.
Pakistan has poor occupational safety and health legislation and infrastructure to promote it.
Large numbers of illiterate workers are employed informally in unregulated sectors like construction,
agriculture, mining, especially in small-size enterprises.
Women and children are especially vulnerable as they usually work informally, with no access to basic
occupational health and safety protection.
The workers suffer more in those industries and face diseases like lung cancer, skin and eye allergies,
deafness, headaches and also the rate of accidents is higher. In addition the tanneries waste liquid
contaminates underground water making it danger for workers’ and residents’ health.
In Gujrat recently a factory producing electric fans caught fire and six workers
were seriously burned. Every day in newspapers we read about fire accidents in
different industries causing death and injuries due to fire, and smoke inhalation –
often where workers are locked in factories for ‘security reasons’.

PILER conducted surveys in three industries. We found that the fire extinguishers
provided in most factories were out-dated, and workers were unaware of OHS
procedures. They were not even trained to correctly use the existing obsolete fire
extinguishers. Proper techniques in fire fighting are crucial. Exploding boilers (105
were registered) killed hundred of workers in the paper industry between 1998 to
2000.

Recommendations:

The employers and government agencies must recognize the economic cost, the
immeasurable human suffering such illnesses and accidents. These are all the more tragic
because they are largely preventable. The government can safely protect the prestigious lives
of workers by adopting ILO Conventions

The ILO convention 155 (occupational health and safety) and 170 (chemicals convention) is
considered as basic international labour standard for securing health and safety rights of all
working people inside the national boundary; ensure safe chemical management and
explosive fee workplaces. On the other hand, the important feature of the ILO convention 155
is applied to all workers in all branches of economic activity. Therefore, ratification of 155 by
Pakistan is very important to ensure state’s basic legal obligation, ensure occupational health
and safety rights of all workers within the country. The formulation of harmonization of
compensation systems and ratification of ILO Convention 155 is an urgent need in Pakistan.

The Government of Pakistan should immediately ratify the ILO Convention 155 and 170 as
part of states obligation towards ensure safe, healthy and hazards free work places at
national level and start awareness campaign to workers and employers about new
occupational safety and health issues. These two conventions are protective tools for
innocent workers at workplaces

 Health and Safety council at plant, provincial and national levels;

 Training and education on OSH specially for trade union leaders and
worker activists;
 Rights to information for the safe use of machinery and chemicals (in the
appropriate language);
 At least two percent of income from every industry should be spent to
provide OSH protection;
 Warning signs in local language;
 Categories of sign (warning, danger etc.) have been adopted in OSH laws
of some countries. In Pakistan no such signs have been recommended under
Health and Safety laws;
 Noise standards - this simple step may go a long way in reducing the toll
of accidents and diseases in the work place;
 Only 1.1 million workers out of total 39 million are covered by labour laws
– all 39 million should be protected.

LABOUR ISSUES

Pakistan has a population surplus. Marx has called relative surplus population as the
“industrial reserve army”. According to Marx, it “forms a part of the active labour army, but
with extremely irregular employment. Hence it furnishes to capital an inexhaustible
reservoir of disposable labour power. Its conditions of life sink below the average normal
level of the working class; this makes it at once the broad basis of special branches of
capitalist exploitation. It is characterised by maximum of working-time, and minimum of
wages”.

This, in particular, illustrates the plight of workers who work in the informal economy or
are unemployed/underemployed in modern times. However, it does not mean that the
conditions of the labour force in the formal sector are markedly better in countries like
Pakistan.

According to the latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2017-18, 72 percent of workers are part
of the informal sector. As per the other key statistics in the LFS, the unemployment rate is
5.8 percent, relatively high in the urban areas compared to the rural areas; higher amongst
women compared to men. In terms of employment status, 42.4 percent workers are hired by
others, 34.8 percent are own account workers, and 21.4 percent are contributing family
workers. Agriculture (38.5 percent) and services (37.8 percent) are the high employment
providing sectors and industry (23.7 percent) falls in the third place. We review some key
literature (Pasha 2014, PILER 2016, Human Rights Watch 2019, Kauppert and Qadir 2015,
UNDP 2017, Hashmi Khan 2017, ADB 2016, PILER 2010, Hisam 2006) for this article.

The labour market is considered ‘underdeveloped’ in Pakistan. Labour rights are not being
effectively enforced according to international labour conventions due to an increase in
unemployment as well as slow economic growth. There is prevalence of bonded and child
labour. In an environment of wage inequality; women earn relatively less. Work conditions
are unsafe, and collective bargaining is quite weak. There are curbs on freedom of
association. Violations of labour laws are often not countered due to weak/absent labour
inspection systems. These poor conditions of the labour force in Pakistan may be somewhat
similar to other developing countries with similar economic growth levels.

One would assume that labour unions would provide protection to workers rights. However,
the unionisation rates are very low across all sectors, with marginally higher unionisation in
larger firms and non-existent unionisation in the unorganised labour-intensive units. There
is fragmentation in the labour movement. In effect, statutory minimum wage is the only
protection offered to workers by the government, though even that often remains
unenforced, particularly in the informal economy. Real wages are considered to be
declining.

The casualisation of the labour force is represented by piece-rate employment, particularly

amongst home-based workers. Sub-contracting piece-rate work to low-skilled labour force
is common. The majority of labour do not have proper contracts. Women face harassment at
workplaces and are not given maternity leave.

There is also ‘unfree labour’ in Pakistan in the form of bonded workers who are estimated
to be around two million, particularly in the brick kiln and agriculture sectors. Bonded
labour primarily works through work acquired in view of non-payment of ‘peshgi’ or debt.
Child labour is also in practice, though it is estimated to have declined in the recent past.
Restrictions on women’s mobility and work might induce higher levels of child labour,
particularly amongst boys, and reversing this trend could decrease it.

According to informal estimates, there might be 20 million home-based workers in

Pakistan, with the majority (12 million) of them women. Sindh and Punjab have drafted
policies for home-based workers, andSindh passed the law last year too.

The last available national labour policy was announced in 2010, though it is considered
deficient by labour rights advocates on many counts such as absence of discussion on the
unionisation of agricultural workers and lack of strategic guidelines to address gender
disparity, amongst others. Other than many national labour laws, all provinces and ICT
have passed labour-related laws in the recent past with Sindh taking the lead. However,
Punjab’s law on child labour in the brick kilns in 2016 has legitimised the credit ‘peshgi’ to
an extent, and is considered problematic. Labour laws are often not implemented either.

In terms of the way forward, there is a need to ensure occupational safety and health. About
3.5 percent workers report some kind of occupational injury or disease. Agriculture and
construction work are considered most hazardous. Fires like the ones at Baldia Town and
the Gadani Ship Breaking Yard in Karachi were most unfortunate. So is the loss of life in
coalmine accidents.

There is some evidence that select transport workers organisations offer some collective
care arrangements and protection against misuse of power by law-enforcement agencies. It
is encouraging. So is the BISP’s Waseela-e-Taleem initiative that offers conditional cash
transfer to support families for children’s enrolments and retention. This might help with
child labour.

Human Rights Watch recommends that the federal and provincial governments revise the
relevant labour laws to bring them in conformity with international labour standards; and
investigate mistreatment and abuse of workers and prosecute those undertaking it. It also
advises the provincial governments make the labour inspection system credible and
widespread. And asks international and domestic manufacturers to implement labour rights
as part of their agreements.
Other than the government of Pakistan’s obvious responsibility, the international brands too
often neglect abuse of labour in developing countries like Pakistan and have an equal
responsibility to ensure compliance with labour rights through the entire value chains.

Conclusion
 Recommendations

 The Pakistan federal and provincial governments should revise all

relevant labor laws to ensure they are in line with key
international labor standards. The Industrial Relations Act, 2012
and the provincial laws fall short of ILO standards ratified by
Pakistan, including Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association
and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organize and Bargain
Collectively.
 The Pakistan federal government should carry out effective and
impartial investigations into workers’ allegations of mistreatment,
including beatings, threats, and other abuses, and prosecute those
responsible.
 The Pakistan provincial governments should develop and
implement a plan to increase the number of government labor
inspectors, improve their training, establish clear procedures for
independent and credible inspections, and expand the resources at
their disposal to conduct effective inspections.
 International and domestic companies manufacturing in Pakistan
should publicly disclose and update supplier factory lists; join
collective brand initiatives; and take steps to develop grievance
redress procedures for all workers, incorporating workers’
freedom of association as a core part of all binding and non-
binding brand agreements.
 References

[1] wikipedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_in_Pakistan.