Backlog of 16,000 labour cases in Magistrates’ Courts

By Saman Indrajith

More than 16,000 cases have been filed under the existing Industrial Disputes Act at 80 Magistrates’ Courts, countrywide, the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Labour and Foreign Employment has been told.This was revealed when the Committee looked into the new Industrial Disputes (Special Provisions) Bill, published in the Gazette dated 08 April 2022. The Ministerial Consultative Committee met recently under the chairmanship of Manusha Nanayakkara, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment.According to the existing Industrial Disputes Act, when an employer has terminated the employment of an employee, only the termination is dealt with under a Labor Tribunal. In cases where the employers violate the provisions of various Acts2, including the Employees’ Provident Fund, wages, other terms and conditions, litigation will be instituted in the Magistrates’ Courts.

More than 16,000 cases have been filed in about 80 Magistrate Courts functioning islandwide. The Committee members said that it would take a long time for the aggrieved workers to get justice. If the cases were referred to the 37 labour tribunals, which currently handles a very small number of cases, justice will be expedited, Nanayakkara said.The Minister added that the proposed Act should delegate the powers of prosecution to the Chairmen of Labor Tribunals. It was further stated that the Labor Tribunals had been given the aforesaid power in the past. When these tribunals had power many cases were settled expeditiously, however these powers were later abolished.Minister Nanayakkara further stated that he will discuss with the trade unions the measures required to protect both the employer and the employee in the event of any factory closure due to deteriorating economic conditions in the future.

He said that the Bill was approved by the Ministerial Consultative Committee and will be taken up for debate at the next Parliamentary Week.The Consultative Committee members said that special training programmes, for those seeking foreign employment, are being conducted islandwide. However, such programmes are not being implemented in the Jaffna District. Therefore, the Minister instructed the relevant authorities to take immediate steps to implement language training programmes in the Jaffna District.Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation was present at this meeting on a special invitation received from Manusha Nanayakkara, the subject-related Minister. Deputy Chairman of the Committee Angajan Ramanathan and Jagath Pushpakumara and officials from the Ministry of Labor and many other government institutes were present at this committee meeting.