Examining Workers Rights, Occupational Safety Measures and Benefits amid Covid-19 Under Ethiopian Labour Law

 

Introduction

The outbreak of CODIV-19 has caused employment crisis worldwide as the virus is claiming thousands of lives and sickening a millions. The virus is causing global economic, social, health, and economic disruptions. The International Labour Organization has an estimate that up to 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide. In addition to the possible unemployment crisis, the safety and health of workers are at risk. Following the declaration of the virus as a Public Emergence of  International Concern  and pandemic by World Health Organization, countries are taking different measures including partial or full lockdown. Ethiopia is not an exception to this crisis, and the same measures are being taken by the government.

During crisis, Labor Law responds with safety and health measures, benefits and rights for workers. However, CODIV-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to some static provisions of the labor law, including the ILO protocols and guidelines. The Ethiopian labor proclamation has also suffered from some lacuna to combat the CODIV-19 pandemic having static provisions in normal cases. Hence, the discussion as to new challenges posed by the new pandemic to the Ethiopian labor law, the adequacy of existing legal responses available, the safety and health measures needs to be taken, and the workers' rights and benefits related with this outbreak is imperative and timely.

The Issue

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የኮቪድ 19 ወረርሸኝና የአሠሪና ሠራተኛ ጉዳይ

 

በዓለማችን የኮሮና ቫይረስ ወረርሽን እየተስፋፋ በመምጣቱ ከአሜሪካ እስከ አፍሪካ፣ ከአውሮፓ እስከ እሲያ ከአውስትራሊያ እስከ ደቡብ አሜሪካ መንግስታት፣ መንግስታዊና መንግስታዊ ያልሆኑ ተቋማት፣ ግዙፍ የንግድ ድርጅቶች አነስተኞቹን ጨምሮ እንቅስቃሴያቸው እየተናጋ፤ ህልውናቸው ፈተና ውስጥ እየገባ ነው፡፡ ይህ ወረርሽን ማብቂያው እና መወገጃው በግልጽ ያልታወቀ እና ሊተነበይም ያልቻለ በመሆኑ በተለይም የግል የንግድ ድርጅቶች ቀጥረው የሚያሰሯቸው ሠራተኞች ላይ ሊወስዱ ስለሚችሉት እርምጃ እርግጠኛ አይደሉም፡፡ በሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያም የቫይረሱ መግባት ከተረጋገጠበት ጊዜ አንስቶ መንግስት ትምህርት ቤቶችን  እንዲዘጉ አድርጓል፡፡ በመቀጠልም ፍርድ ቤቶች በከፊል እንዲሁም የመንግስት ተቋማት በፈረቃ የሚሰሩበትን ሁኔታ አመቻችቷል፡፡ በሌሎች የንግድ ድርጅቶች ላይ በመንግስት ደረጃ የተሰጠ ትዕዛዝ ባይኖርም የንግድ እንቅስቃሴ በመቀዝቀዙ እንዲሁም ግለሰቦች በተቻላቸው አቅም ከቤት እንዳይወጡ እየተመከረ በመሆኑ ሥራ በአግባቡ እየተሰራ እና ድርጅቶች በፊት ያገኙ የነበረውን ገቢ እያስቀጠሉ ነው ለማለት አዳጋች ነው፡፡

በመሆኑም የግል የንግድ ተቋማት በተለይ በእንደዚህ አይነት አስገዳጅ የሆነ ሥራን ማሰራት፣ ገቢንም መሰብሰብ በማይቻልበት ወቅት ምን አይነት ሕጋዊ እርምጃዎችን መውሰድ ይችላሉ? በሕጉ ላይ የተቀመጡ አማራጮች ምንድን ናቸው? አማራጮቹን ለመጠቀምስ የሚያስፈልጉ ቅድመ ሁኔታዎችስ ምን ምን ናቸው? የሚሉትን ነጥቦች ከአሠሪና ሠራተኛ ጉዳይ አዋጅ ቁጥር 1156/2011 (አዋጁ) ድንጋጌዎች አንጻር በመቃኘት አሠሪዎች በሠራተኞቻቸው ላይ አላስፈላጊ እርምጃ እንዳይወስዱ፤ ሠራተኞችም የሥራ ዋስትናቸው እስከምን ድረስ ሊሆን እንደሚችል ተገንዝበው የራሳቸውን መብት እንዲያስከብሩ እና አስፈላጊውን ቅድመ ጥንቃቄ እንዲያደርጉ በማሰብ ይህን ጽሑፍ ተዘጋጅቷል፡፡

 

ከአቅም በላይ የሆኑ ከሥራ ውል የሚመነጩ መብትና ግዴታዎች እንዲታገዱ ሊያደርጉ የሚችሉ ሁኔታዎች፡-

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Coronavirus – The Limitations on Your Rights and the Resulting Responsibilities, Explained

 

 

Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the government’s decision to close schools and the banning of all sports events and large public gatherings for the next fifteen days. The decision was made after the government has confirmed a total of five cases on Monday, March 16, 2020. Going forward, the government is expected to take measures, which will have an adverse effect on the constitutional and legislative rights of health professionals, customs officers and the general public. In this article, I will discuss some of the possible limitations on the rights of these people and possible measures that the government is entitled to take in case of disobedience.

Duties and Limitations Associated with COVID-19

In relation to the outbreak of COVID-19, different segments of the society are duty bound to assist in preventing the spread of the disease. Specifically, the duties on health professionals, customs officers and individual citizens are briefly explained below.

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Corona Virus and Force Majeure

A post on American Bar Association’s (ABA) website and a comment by a colleague prompted me to write this. Let me begin by posing a question: can a pandemic be considered as a force majeure? The importance of this post may be revealed later as the economy opens up and creditors require debtors to perform their obligation, repudiate an agreement or hold debtors liable for failure.

 

Covid-19 is shaking the world- all 6 continents are being put to the test- who expected life to be like this some months ago? Covid-19’s impact goes far beyond the health system. It is having enormous amount of political and economic pressure on governments. The unavailability of vaccine, scientists’ lack of understanding of its real nature and the origin makes the virus dreadful. Though billions of dollars are poured to research, no pharmaceutical firm managed to come up with a long lasting solution except socially engineered solutions like social distancing, staying at home, cleaning hands, etc.

 

Obviously, the pandemic has a deep economic impact on start-ups and big firms. Many governments are devising stimulus package and/or these businesses are asking for a bailout. This means that the performance of many commercial agreements will be disrupted: debtors will keep getting emails, phone calls from creditors asking to deliver a thing, sell their service or whatever scenario which comes to your mind.

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የአስቸኳይ ግዜ አዋጁ ትኩረት ያልሰጠበት የገበያዉ ሁኔታ እና አተገባበሩ

 

መግቢያ

የኮሮና ወረርሽኝን ተከትሎ በሽታዉን ከመቋቋም ጎን ለጎን ኢተዮጵያ ካጋጠማት ችግሮች መካካል አንዱ የገበያ በተለመደዉ የፍላጎትና አቅርቦት መርህ (Demand and supply) አለመሄድ ነዉ፡፡ ይህ ችግር በአብዘኃኛዉ ያደጉ ሃገራት ላይ በተለይ በእንደዚህ አስጊ ሰዓት የመፈጠር እድሉ በጣም ዝቅተኛ ነዉ፤ ይህም የሆነበት ምክንያት በንጽጽር በአደጉት ሃገራት ያሉ ነጋዴዎች ያዳበሩት የንግድ ስነ ምግባር (Business ethics) ከእኛ የላቀ መሆኑ ነዉ፡፡ በሽታዉን አስመልክቶ በገበያዉ ብዙ አይነት ሸማቹን አደጋ ላይ የጣሉ ነገሮች ከአዋጁም በፊት ይሁን እሱን ተከትሎ እየተከሰቱ ይገኛሉ፡፡ ለአብነት ያክል ወደ ጎን /ወደ ታች/ ባሉ ነጋዴዎች የሚደረግ የንግድ ዉድድሩን የሚገቱ ስምምነቶች፤ እነዚህም ስምምነቶች ዋጋን ከፍ ማድረግ፣ መጠንን መቀነስ፣ የንግድ እቃዎችን መደበቅ፣ ሸማቾችን መምረጥ (ማግለል ) እና መሰል ድርጊቶችን ያካተቱ ናቸዉ፡፡ እንዲሁም ነጋዴ ወይንም ነጋዴ ባልሆኑ ሰዎች ደግሞ የማከማቸት ስራዎች በተለይ በከተሞች ላይ ጎልተዉ የሚስተዋሉ ችግሮች ናቸዉ፡፡ ኢትዮጵያ ምንም እንኳን እነዚህን ጉዳዮች የሚገዛ የህግ ማዕቀፍ ማለትም (የገበያ ዉድድር ና የሸማቾች ጥበቃ አዋጅ 813/2006) ቢኖራትም ነገር ግን ችግሩን ለማቃለል ብዙ የአፈጻፀም ጉድለቶች ይስተዋሉበታል፡፡ ይሀንንም አስመልክቶ ትልቅ ተስፋ የተጣለበት የአስቸኳይ ግዜ አዋጁ ና አሱን የሚያብራራዉ ደንብ ነበር፡፡ ነገር ግን በተጠበቀዉ ደረጃ ሳይሆን ገበያን ከመቆጣጠር አንጻር ትልቅ ክፍተትን ያሳያል፡፡

በዚህ አጠር ያለ ፅሁፍ ላይ አዋጁ ገበያን ከማረጋጋት አንጻጻር ትኩረት ማድረግ የነበረበትን ነገሮች እና ክፍተቶቹን፣ እንዲሁም ደግሞ በአፈጻጸም ደረጃ መሻሻል ያለባቸዉን ነገሮች ለመዳሰስ እንሞክራልን፡፡

 

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