Casual Labour

Casual labour, which is also known as undocumented employment, is a popular type of employment in highly industrialised countries. The Labour Act, specifies different types of temporary jobs and persons to be engaged to perform such jobs and location stipulated as well as duration of the jobs.
Section 74 (3) CAP 198 of the Labour Act specifically restricts causal jobs to a village or town for the purpose of;
1. The construction and maintenance of buildings used for communal purposes, including markets but excluding juju houses and places of worship.
2. Sanitary measure;
3. Construction and maintenance of local roads and paths;
4. The construction and maintenance of towns and village fences;
5. The construction of communal wells and other communal services of similar kind in the direct interest of the inhabitants of the town or village.
Note that none of the jobs described above will take 10 years to be completed, but employers in Nigeria engage casuals for periods ranging from 5 to 10 years in cities like Port Harcourt.
Section 9 (1) of the Labout Act states that not later than three months after the beginning of a workers period of employment with an employee, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying the following;
1.The name of the employer or group of employers and where appropriate, of the undertaking by which the worker is employed.
2.The name and address of the worker and the place and date of his engagement;
3.The nature of the employment;
4. If the contract is for a fixed term, the date the contract will expire;
5. Appropriate period of notice to be given by the party wishing to terminate the contract.
6. The rate of wages and method and calculation thereof and the manner and periodicity of payment of wages.
7. Any term and condition relating to:
i) Homes and work
ii) Holidays and holiday pay, or
iii) Incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provision for sick pay.
8. Any special condition for the contract. Should there be any alteration to any part of these statements, the employer is required by subsection 2 (a-b) of section 7 of the Act to inform the worker in writing.
The law conceded three months for employers to engage people without formalising their relationship, but no part of the Labour Act permits any employer to engage anybody beyond that period without regularising his/her status. From the provisions of the existing Labour Act in Nigeria, casual labour, if it means these categories of workers engaged by employers to work for them without formal engagement notices for periods exceeding three months is illegal. I submit therefore that the practice of casual labour has not been in conformity with the provisions of the Act and no one can defend the legality of what is clearly at variance with the provisions of the law.

Nkechi Bright-Ewere