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Botswana - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Gaborone

 

CLIMATE

Semiarid climate; warm winters and hot summers.

 

LANGUAGES

English (official), and Setswana

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Botswana’s legal system is based on Roman-Dutch law and local customary law. Judicial review limited to matters of interpretation. Botswana has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

 

CURRENCY

Botswana Pula (1 USD = 6.6667 BWP as of April 15, 2002).

 

BOTSWANA - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

BOTSWANA - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Gaborone

Embassy Drive, Government Enclave

P.O. Box 90

Gaborone, Botswana

Telephone: [267] 353-982

Fax: [267] 312-782

http://usembassy.state.gov/botswana/

 

Embassy of Botswana at Washington D.C.

1531-3 New Hampshire Avenue, NW

Washington D.C. 20036

Telephone: (202) 244-4990

Fax: (202) 244-4164

 

BOTSWANA - HOLIDAYS

 

BOTSWANA – LEAVE

Annual Leave: Minimum 15 days paid annual leave each year.

 

Maternity Leave: 12 weeks – 25% of pay (paid by employer).

 

BOTSWANA - MINIMUM AGE

Only an immediate family member may employ a child age 13 or younger, and no juvenile under age 15 may be employed in any industry. Only persons over age 16 may be hired to perform night work, and no person under age 16 is allowed to perform hazardous labor, including mining.

 

The law provides that adopted children are not exploited as labor and protects orphans from exploitation as labor or coercion into prostitution.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Botswana – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

BOTSWANA - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The minimum daily wage for most full-time labor in the private sector was 17 pula (approximately $3.15), which remained less than 50 percent of what the Government calculates is necessary to provide a decent standard of living for a family of five.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Botswana – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

BOTSWANA - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

BOTSWANA - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides for the right of association. In practice all workers are free to join or organize unions of their own choosing. Government employees are permitted to organize their own unions. The industrial or wage economy is small, and unions are concentrated largely in mineral extraction and to a lesser extent in the railway and banking sectors. There is only one major confederation, the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU), but there are no obstacles to the formation of other labor federations. In November the BFTU and the Manual Workers' Union merged into one union. During the year, the Government authorized the Civil Service to organize its own union; however, the union was not established by year's end.

 

Unions are independent of the Government and are not closely allied with any political party or movement. Unions may employ full-time administrative staff, but the law requires elected union officials to work full time in the industry that the union represents. This rule severely limits union leaders' professionalism and effectiveness, and has been criticized by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

 

The law also severely restricts the right to strike. Legal strikes are theoretically possible only after an exhaustive arbitration process. Sympathy strikes are prohibited. In August a strike by employees of the Botswana Diamond Valuing Corporation was deemed legal by the court; however, the court ruled the strike premature, ordered the workers back to work, and directed the parties into arbitration before the strike could continue. There were no other legal strikes during the year.

 

Unions may join international organizations, and the BFTU is affiliated with the ICFTU. The Minister of Labor must approve any affiliation with an outside labor movement, but unions may appeal to the courts if an application for affiliation is refused.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The Constitution provides for collective bargaining for unions that have enrolled 25 percent of a labor force. In reality only the mineworker and diamond sorter unions may have the organizational strength to engage in collective bargaining.

 

Workers may not be fired for union-related activities. Dismissals on other grounds may be appealed to labor officers or civil courts, but labor offices rarely do more than order 2 months' severance pay.

 

The country has only one export processing zone, located in the town of Selebi-Phikwe, and it is subject to the same labor laws as the rest of the country.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that such practices occurred.

 

The Government does not prohibit forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were no reports that such practices occurred.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment of Children

 

Only an immediate family member may employ a child age 13 or younger, and no juvenile under age 15 may be employed in any industry. Only persons over age 16 may be hired to perform night work, and no person under age 16 is allowed to perform hazardous labor, including mining. District and municipal councils have child welfare divisions, which are responsible for enforcing child labor laws. The law provides that adopted children are not exploited as labor and protects orphans from exploitation as labor or coercion into prostitution. Because research on child labor is limited, it is difficult to state whether child labor laws are enforced effectively. However, there is general agreement among the Labor Commissioner, officials of the Ministry of Local Government, Lands, and Housing, and UNICEF that the child labor problem is limited to young children in remote areas who work as cattle tenders, maids, or babysitters.

 

The Government launched a 10-year program of action for children in 1997; however, implementation has proceeded slowly.

 

The Government does not prohibit forced and bonded labor by children; however, such practices are not known to occur.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The minimum daily wage for most full-time labor in the private sector was $3.15 (17 pula), which remained less than 50 percent of what the Government calculates is necessary to provide a decent standard of living for a family of five. Wage policy is determined by the Cabinet, which decides on recommendations made by the National Economic, Manpower and Incomes Committee (NEMIC), which consists of government, BFTU, and private sector representatives. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, and each of the country's districts has at least one labor inspector. Civil service disputes are referred to an ombudsman for resolution. Private labor disputes are mediated by labor commissioners; however, an insufficient number of commissioners has resulted in 1 to 2 year backlogs in resolving such disputes. In 2000 the Ministry of Labor received 9,172 labor disputes and referred a small but undisclosed number of them for review by the Industrial Court, which had a 9 to 18 month backlog at year's end.

 

Formal sector jobs almost always pay well above minimum wage levels. Informal sector employment, particularly in the agricultural and domestic service sectors, where housing and food are included, frequently pays below the minimum wage. There is no mandatory minimum wage for domestic workers, and the Ministry of Labor no longer recommends a minimum wage for them.

 

The law permits a maximum 48-hour workweek, exclusive of overtime, that is payable at time and a half for each additional hour. Most modern private sector jobs have a 40-hour workweek; however, the public sector has changed to a 48-hour workweek.

 

The law provides that workers who complain about hazardous conditions may not be fired. However, the Government's ability to enforce its workplace safety legislation remains limited by inadequate staffing and unclear jurisdictions among different ministries. Nevertheless, employers generally provide for worker safety, with an occasional exception in the construction industry.

 

Illegal immigrants from poorer neighboring countries, primarily Zambians and Zimbabweans, are exploited easily in labor matters, since they would be subject to deportation if they filed grievances against their employers.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The law does not prohibit trafficking in persons, although penal code provisions cover such related offenses as abduction and kidnaping, slave trafficking, compulsory labor, and procuring women and girls for the purpose of prostitution. There were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

 

 

BOTSWANA - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

BOTSWANA - STANDARD WORKWEEKThe law permits a maximum 48-hour workweek, exclusive of overtime, that is payable at time and a half for each additional hour. Most modern private sector jobs have a 40-hour workweek; however, the public sector has changed to a 48-hour workweek.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Botswana – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)