PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ། ། ། ། །།
ה וזדון
Reference :-
C.O. 882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
MAURITIUS.
DRAFT
OF
THE LABOUR LAW (AMENDMENT)
ORDINANCE, 1907.
DRAFT ORDINANCE No. OF 1907.
To amend the Labour Law (Ordinance No. 12 of 1878).
Be it enacted, &c.
Article 19 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1878 to apply to female immigrants.
1. The word "immigrant" in Article 19 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1878 shall extend and apply to female as well as to male immigrants, and the powers given to and the duties imposed upon the Protector under that articl: in respect of male immigrants who are minors, or of orphans of male immigrants, or of male immigrants who are lunatics shall be exercised by him in the same manner and to the same extent in respect of female immigrants who are minors and whose parents cannot be found, of orphans of female immigrants whether such orphans are born in the Colony or elsewhere, and of female immigrants who are lunatics.
Articles 20 and 24 of Ordinance
dentured Indians.
2.
The powers given to the Protector
No. 12 of 1878 to apply to all inden- under Articles 20 and 24 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1878 are hereby extended and shall be exer- cised by him in respect of all Indians whether immigrants, passengers, or Creoles who work under written contract on estates.
Article 99 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1878 repealed and replaced.
age.
3. Article 99 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1878
is repealed and replaced by the following:-
9 No written contract shall be passed with any minor under 15 years of Any minor of the age of 15, 16, or 17 years shall be free to engage under written contract of service, provided the parent or guardian consents thereto. Minors of 18 years and upwards are free to engage under written contract.
The mother of a natural child who has not been acknowledged by the father shall, for the purposes and provisions of this article, act to all intents and pur- poses as a legitimate mother.
Amendment of Article 100 of the Labour Law.
Refusal to pass or restriction of contract for unfitness.
4. The following is added as a second
paragraph to Article 100 of the Labour Law:-
*
The Stipendiary Magistrate may refuse
to pass any contract if, in his opinion, the intended servant is not in a fit condition, either through old age, chronic disease, or sickness, or any infirmity of mind or body to fulfil the conditions of the proposed contract. And if, during the continuance of any contract, the servant is not, in the opinion of the Protector, in a fit condition, either through old age, chronic disease, or sickness, or any infirmity of mind or body, to perform the conditions of the said contract, the Magistrate shall, if the Protector so requests, cancel such contract."
Amendment of Article 110 of Labour
Law.
Breaches of contract by servants.
5. Article 110 of the Labour Law is repealed and replaced by the following:-
110. (1) On complaint preferred, and proof made before any Stipendiary Magistrate that any servant has neglected to perform his stipulated work, or that he has per-
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formed it negligently or improperly, or has been guilty of insolence or insubordi- nation, or shall have refused to obey any reasonable order of his employer or master, or of the medical attendant, or of any person placed in authority on the estate by the employer or master (whether such order relates to the contract of service or not) the Magistrate may adjudge the servant to pay a fine not exceeding Rs. 5, and may further, if he thinks fit, sentence him to seven days' imprisonment.
Provided that, in case of gross insolence or insubordination, the servant may be sentenced by the Stipendiary Magistrate to a fine not exceeding Rs. 10 or to imprisonment not exceeding 15 days.
(2) Any servant who, by negligence or other improper conduct, has injured the property of his employer or master shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one month's pay for the benefit of his employer, and may further, if the Stipendiary Magistrate thinks fit, be sentenced to seven days' imprisonment with hard labour.
(3) Any servant guilty of abusive or threatening or insulting language, or gesture, or assault towards his employer or master, the medical attendant, or any person placed in authority on the estate by the employer or master, shall be liable to imprisonment with hard labour not exceeding 14 days, and the Magistrate may further, if he is asked to do so by the employer, dissolve the contract of service."
Articles 113, 114 and 115 of Ordin- ance No. 12 of 1878 repealed and replaced.
6. Articles 113, 114. and 115 of Ordi- nance No. 12 of 1878 are repealed and replaced by the following:-
暫
"113.-(1) Any servant under written contract of service who has worked regu- larly from Monday to Saturday, inclusive, exclusive of estate holidays, shall not be required to perform the corvée or work of any other kind on Sundays.
(2) Any servant under written contract of service who has without lawful excuse been absent from his work for one or more days from Monday to Saturday inclusive in any week, exclusive of estate holidays, shall be guilty of an unlawful absence and shall, in addition to the loss of his wages and rations during such day's of unlawful absence, forfeit his wages for Sunday, and he shall be liable to the prolongation of his contract for the number of days that he shall have been illegally absent, including Sunday, if he did not attend the corvée on that day. The pro- longation of his contract shall be made by order of the Stipendiary Magistrate.
(3) Any servant who has been absent from Monday to Saturday in any week, inclusive of estate holidays, shall not be entitled to his wages for Sunday even if he attends the corvée.
114 (1) The employer, manager or book-keeper shall make in his pay-book an entry of each day's unlawful absence, imprisonment, sickness or permission, of every servant employed by him; and he shall be entitled every three months (or every month if he prefers it) to ask the Stipendiary Magistrate to prolong the servant's contract for a number of days equal to such days of absence, and to any days of imprisonment to which the servant may have been condemned during three months. This application shall not be made till the wages for the months in which the absences took place shall have been paid, and shall not be made later than the 4th month.
(2) The entries of the absence and days of imprisonment in the pay-book shall be considered sufficient proof thereof if the servant has not contested the same, as hereafter provided.
(3) The servant may after each distribution of rations or after each pay day, provided such application is made before the end of the month following the pay day of the month in which the contested marking appears, dispute the correctness of any entry in the "carnet," or pay-book, and the Stipendiary Magistrate, if he decides in favour of the servant, shall condemn the employer to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees, and to modify the incorrect entries.
115. The Stipendiary Magistrate shall in all cases in which he has prolonged the servant's contract for unlawful absence endorse such prolongation on the con- tract, as provided by Article 108, and then mark the monthly return received from the employer with his initials or his stamp, and transmit such return to the Protector.
Article 116 repealed and replaced.
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7. Article 116 is repealed and replaced by the following:-
118. Any servant under written contract of service who shall be unlawfully absent from work for ten or more consecutive days in a month, including Sundays and estate holidays, shall be deemed an habitual idler, and shall be liable to a
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