Mauritius
Employment Rights Act
Act 33 of 2008
- Commenced on 2 February 2009
- [This is the version of this document at 30 June 2017.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Employment Rights Act.2. Interpretation
In this Act—"agreement" means a contract of employment or contract of service between an employer and a worker, whether oral, written, implied or express;"basic wage or salary", in relation to a worker, means—(a)where the terms and conditions of employment of the worker are governed by Remuneration Regulations, an arbitral award or an agreement, whether oral or written, express or implied, the basic wage or salary prescribed in the Remuneration Regulations, award or agreement, or where the employer pays a higher wage or salary, the higher wage or salary so paid, but does not include any allowance by any name called, and whether paid in cash or in kind;(b)in any other case, all the emoluments received by the worker, excluding any bonus or overtime;"child" means a person under the age of 16;"collective agreement" has the same meaning as in the Employment Relations Act;"comparable full-time worker" means a full-time worker who—(a)has the same type of employment relationship;(b)is engaged in the same or a similar type of work or occupation; and(c)is employed in the same establishment, enterprise or branch of activity,as a part-time worker;"continuous employment" means the employment of a worker under an agreement or under more than one agreement where the interval between an agreement and the next does not exceed 28 days;"Council" means the Labour Advisory Council established under section 64;"Court" means the Industrial Court established under the Industrial Court Act;"day" means any period of 24 consecutive hours;"employer", subject to section 33—(a)means a person who employs a worker and is responsible for the payment of remuneration to the worker;(b)includes—(i)a job contractor;(ii)a person, other than another shareworker, who shares the profit or gross earnings of a shareworker;"enterprise" includes a trade or business;"fortnight" means any period of 14 consecutive days;"good and sufficient cause" includes—(a)illness or injury certified by a medical practitioner;(b)absence authorised by the employer;(c)absence due to participation in a lawful strike;"goods vehicle" has the same meaning as in the Road Traffic Act;"harassment" means any unwanted conduct, verbal, non-verbal, visual, psychological or physical, based on age, disability, HIV status, domestic circumstances, sex, sexual orientation, race, colour, language, religion, political, trade union or other opinion or belief, national or social origin, association with a minority, birth or other status, that a reasonable person would have foreseen that a worker would be affected negatively in his dignity;"industrial undertaking" includes—(a)mining and quarrying operations or other activities connected with mineral prospecting;(b)the manufacture, production, assembly, installation, repair, maintenance, modification or destruction of materials or properties;(c)ship building operations;(d)the generation, transformation, and supply of electric power or other type of energy;(e)the construction, extension, installation, repair, maintenance, alteration or demolition of buildings, airfields, tramway lines, harbours, dockyards, piers, inland water ways, roads, tunnels, bridges, drainage, water pipes, telegraphic and telephonic installations, electric gas or water works or other construction work including the preparation for or laying the foundation of any such work or structure; and(f)such other undertaking as the Minister may, by regulations, determine;"job contractor" means a person who employs a worker to perform any work or service that the person has contracted to do or provide for another person;"local authority" has the same meaning as in the Local Government Act;"Minister" means the Minister to whom responsibility for the subject of labour and employment relations is assigned;"National Pensions Fund" means the National Pensions Fund established under the National Pensions Act;"National Savings Fund" means the National Savings Fund established under the National Savings Fund Act;"night work" means work which is performed, whether in shifts or otherwise, during a period of not less than 7 consecutive hours between 6 p.m and 6 a.m;"notional hourly rate" means the hourly rate as calculated in section 15;"officer" means an officer designated by the Permanent Secretary;"part-time worker" means a worker whose normal hours of work are less than those of a comparable full-time worker;"pay period" means the period for which remuneration is paid under section 21;"Permanent Secretary" means the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry;"place of work" means a place where work is performed under an agreement;"public holiday" has the same meaning as in the Public Holidays Act;"public officer" has the same meaning as in the Constitution;"remuneration"—(a)means all emoluments, in cash or in kind, earned by a worker under an agreement;(b)includes—(i)any sum paid by an employer to a worker to cover expenses incurred in relation to the special nature of his work;(ii)any money to be paid to a job contractor, for work, by the person employing the job contractor; and(iii)any money due as a share of profits;"Remuneration Regulations" means any regulations made by the Minister under section 93 of the Employment Relations Act and includes any Remuneration Order, made under the repealed Industrial Relations Act, which is still in operation;"retirement age" means, in respect of a worker whose month and year of birth are mentioned in Column 1 of the First Schedule, the date on which the worker attains the age specified in Column 2 of that Schedule;"severance allowance" means an amount calculated in accordance with section 46;"shareworker" means a person who—(a)is remunerated wholly or partly by a share in the profits of the enterprise for which he works, or gross earnings of an enterprise obtained from the work done by him; and(b)is not an owner of the main equipment, premises and materials used in the work he does;"shift work" means work organised in 2 or more shifts in a period of 24 consecutive hours;"shop" means a place where any wholesale or retail trade or business is carried on;"stipulated hours" means the hours of work specified in section 14 (1) (a) and 14 (4) (a) or such lesser number of hours of work as may be specified in an agreement;"threatening behaviour" means any behaviour or declaration of intention to use force on, or to intimidate, a worker;"trade or business" means any occupation, calling, trade, business, profession, industry, service or other commercial activity;"trade union" has the same meaning as in the Employment Relations Act;"Transition Unemployment Benefit" means the unemployment benefit referred to in section 44;"Tribunal" means the Employment Relations Tribunal established under the Employment Relations Act;"week" means any period of 7 consecutive days;"week day" means any day other than a public holiday;"worker", subject to section 33 or 40—(a)means a person who has entered into, or works under, an agreement or a contract of apprenticeship, other than a contract of apprenticeship regulated under the Mauritius Institute of Training and Development Act, whether by way of casual work, manual labour, clerical work or otherwise and however remunerated;(b)includes—(i)a part-time worker;(ii)a former worker where appropriate;(iii)a shareworker;(c)does not include—(i)a job contractor;(ii)except in relation to sections 4, 20, 30, 31 and Parts VIII, VIIIA, IX, X and XI, a person whose basic wage or salary is at a rate in excess of 360,000 rupees per annum;"Workfare Programme" means the Workfare Programme set up under section 41;"young person" means a person, other than a child, who is under the age of 18.[S. 2 amended by s. 3 of Act 6 of 2013 w.e.f. 11 June 2013.]3. Application of Act
Part II – Agreements
4. Discrimination in employment and occupation
5. Agreements
6. Capacity of workers
Notwithstanding any other enactment, a person who is of the age of 16 or more shall be competent to enter into an agreement and shall, in relation to the agreement and to its enforcement, be deemed to be of full age and capacity.7. Liability for act or omission of another person
Notwithstanding any other enactment, no worker shall, by virtue of an agreement, be responsible for the act or omission of any other person.8. Written particulars of work agreement
9. Continuous employment
10. Consideration for full-time employment
11. Transfer to part-time work
A full-time worker may enter into an agreement with an employer to perform part-time work subject to the agreement—Part III – Minimum age for employment
12. Employment of children and young persons
13. Record of young persons
An employer shall keep a record of every young person employed by him stating—Part IV – Hours of work
14. Normal working hours
15. Notional calculation of basic hourly rate
For the purposes of determining the hourly basic wage due for extra work or for any other reason, the number of hours of work shall notionally be calculated—16. Overtime
17. Public holiday
18. Meal and tea breaks
Every employer shall, unless the employer and worker agree otherwise, grant to the worker on each working day—19. Meal allowance
Part V – Remuneration
20. Equal remuneration for work of equal value
21. Payment of remuneration
22. Deduction
23. Payment of remuneration to a part-time worker
24. Payment of remuneration in special circumstances
25. Payment of remuneration due on termination of agreement
Part VI – Other conditions of employment
26. Transport of workers
27. Annual leave
28. Sick leave
29. Medical facilities
30. Maternity benefits

31. Paternity leave

31A. End of year bonus
32. Other facilities
Part VII – Entitlement of workers in the sugar industry
33. Interpretation of Part VII
In this Part—"employer" means a person who owns a sugar factory or land under sugar cane cultivation of an extent exceeding 10.5522 hectares (25 arpents) in aggregate;"Sugar Industry Remuneration Regulations" means—(a)the Sugar Industry (Agricultural Workers) (Remuneration Order) Regulations 1983; or(b)the Sugar Industry (Non-Agricultural Workers) (Remuneration Order) Regulations 1985,as the case may be;"worker"—(a)has the same meaning as in regulation 2 (1) of any of the Sugar Industry Remuneration Regulations;(b)includes a person specified in regulation 2 (2) of the Sugar Industry (Non-Agricultural Workers) (Remuneration Order) Regulations 1985.[S. 33 amended by s. 15 of Act 6 of 2013 w.e.f. 11 June 2013.]34. ***
35. Workers employed by job contractor
Part VIII – Termination of agreement
36. Termination of agreement
37. Notice of termination of agreement
38. Protection against termination of agreement
39. Worker under notice of termination
During the period when a worker is under notice of termination of agreement under section 37, the employer shall, on satisfactory proof of the purpose of the request, allow the worker reasonable time-off, without loss of pay, to seek further employment.Part VIIIA – Reduction of workforce and closing down of enterprise
[Part VIIIA inserted by s. 19 of Act 6 of 2013 w.e.f. 11 June 2013.]39A. Employment Promotion and Protection Division
39B. Reduction of workforce
Part IX – Workfare Programme
40. Interpretation of Part IX
In this Part—"basic wage or salary", in relation to a worker, means—(a)where the terms and conditions of employment of the worker are governed by Remuneration Regulations, an arbitral award or an agreement, whether oral or written, express or implied, the basic wage or salary prescribed in the Remuneration Regulations, award or agreement, or where the employer pays a higher wage or salary, the higher wage or salary so paid, but does not include any allowance by any name called, and whether paid in cash or in kind;(b)in any other case, all the emoluments received by the worker, excluding any bonus or overtime, butshall not exceed the maximum basic wage or salary as specified in the Second Schedule to the National Savings Fund (Collection of Contributions) Regulations 1997;"worker" does not include—(a)a public officer;(b)a person employed by a statutory body or by a local authority, other than a worker who is an insured person under section 13 (1) of the National Pensions Act;(c)a part-time worker;(d)a migrant worker or a non-citizen;(e)a worker employed in the sugar industry who voluntarily retires—(i)in the context of a Voluntary Retirement Scheme under section 23 of the Sugar Industry Efficiency Act;(ii)an Early Retirement Scheme under section 23A of the Sugar Industry Efficiency Act; or(iii)a factory closure pursuant to section 30 of the Mauritius Cane Industry Authority Act;(f)a person reckoning less than 180 days’ continuous employment with an employer as at the date of the termination of his employment.[S. 40 amended by s. 12 (f) of Act 14 of 2009 w.e.f. 1 July 2009; s. 20 of Act 6 of 2013 w.e.f. 11 June 2013.]41. Workfare Programme
42. Eligibility to join the Workfare Programme
43. Election for Workfare Programme
44. Transition Unemployment Benefit
45. Establishment of Workfare Programme Fund
Part X – Compensation
46. Payment of severance allowance
47. Payment of recycling fee
48. Deductions from severance allowance
49. Gratuity on retirement
49A. Gratuity at death
50. Death grant
51. Certificate of employment
52. Termination of appointment under the Constitution
53. Contractual worker
Part XI – Violence at work
54. Violence at work
Part XII – Job contractors
55. ***
[S. 55 amended by s. 12 (l) of Act 14 of 2009 w.e.f. 1 July 2009; repealed by s. 31A of Act 6 of 2013 w.e.f. 11 June 2013.]56. Joint liability of employer and job contractor
57. Remuneration to be privileged debt
Part XIII – Records and administration
58. Register of employers
59. Keeping of records
60. Labour inspection
The Ministry shall be responsible for maintaining a labour inspection service which shall—61. Power to make enquiries
62. Power to summon
63. Complaint procedure
Part XIV – Labour Advisory Council
64. Establishment of Council
65. Functions of Council
66. Meetings of Council
The Council shall meet at the request of the Chairperson at such time and place as he may determine.Part XV – Miscellaneous
66A. Protection from liability
No liability, civil or criminal, shall lie against an officer in respect of any act done or omitted to be done in good faith in the execution of his functions under this Act.[S. 66A inserted by s. 33 of Act 6 of 2013 w.e.f. 11 June 2013.]67. Offences
68. Regulations
69. ***
70. ***
71. ***
72. ***
History of this document
30 June 2017 this version
Consolidation
02 February 2009
Commenced