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Libya - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Tripoli

 

CLIMATE

Mediterranean climate along the coast and the interior has a dry, extreme desert climate.

 

LANGUAGES

Arabic, Italian, and English (all of these languages are widely understood in the major cities).

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Libya’s legal system is based on Italian civil law system and Islamic law with separate religious courts. Libya has no constitutional provision for judicial review of legislative acts. Libya has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Libyan Dinar (1 USD = 1.34040 LYD as of May 1, 2002).

 

LIBYA – EMBASSY

The United States does not have an embassy in Libya. The U.S. suspended all embassy activities in Tripoli on 2 May 1980.

 

Libya does not have an embassy in the United States.

 

LIBYA - COST-OF-LIVING

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

 

LIBYA - HOLIDAYS

 

LIBYA - MINIMUM AGE

The minimum age for employment of children is 18.

 

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

 

LIBYA - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The labor law defines the rights and duties of workers, including matters of compensation. However, there does not appear to be a minimum wage in effect.

 

A public sector wage freeze imposed in 1981 remains in effect and has eroded real income significantly, particularly in the face of consistently high inflation. According to some reports, the average family lives on 86.7 dinars a month (approximately $170). There is no information available regarding whether this average wage is sufficient to provide a worker and family with a decent standard of living.

 

Based on information contained in: Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Libya – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.

 

LIBYA - REMUNERATION

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

 

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

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

Independent trade unions and professional associations are prohibited, and workers do not have the right to form their own unions. The Government regards such structures as unacceptable "intermediaries between the revolution and the working forces." However, workers may join the National Trade Unions' Federation, which was created in 1972 and is administered by the People's Committee system. The Government prohibits foreign workers from joining this organization.

 

The law does not provide workers with the right to strike. In a 1992 speech, Qadhafi claimed that workers were permitted to strike but added that strikes do not occur because the workers control their enterprises. There have been no reports of strikes for years.

 

The official trade union organization plays an active role in the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions and the Organization of African Trade Union Unity. The Arab Maghreb Trade Union Federation suspended the membership of the country's trade union organization in 1993. The suspension followed reports that Qadhafi had replaced all union leaders, in some cases with loyal followers without union experience.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

Collective bargaining does not exist in any meaningful sense, because labor law requires that the Government must approve all agreements.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

In its 2000 report, the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Committee of Experts stated that in the country "persons expressing certain political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social, or economic system may be punished with penalties of imprisonment," including "an obligation to perform labor." The ILO report also noted that public employees may be sentenced to compulsory labor "as a punishment for breaches of labor discipline or for participation in strikes, even in services whose interruption would not endanger the life, personal safety, or health of the whole or part of the population."

 

There have been credible reports that the Government arbitrarily has forced some foreign workers into involuntary military service or has coerced them into performing subversive activities against their own countries. Despite the Penal Code's prohibition on slavery, citizens have been implicated in the purchase of Sudanese slaves, mainly southern Sudanese women and children, who were captured by Sudanese government troops in the ongoing civil war in Sudan (see Section 6.f.).

 

There is no information regarding whether the law prohibits forced or bonded labor by children or whether such practices occur.

 

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

 

The minimum age for employment of children is 18. There is no information available on the prevalence of child labor, or whether forced or bonded labor by children is prohibited or practiced (see Section 6.c.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The legal maximum workweek is 48 hours. The labor law defines the rights and duties of workers, including matters of compensation, pension rights, minimum rest periods, and working hours.

 

Wages, particularly in the public sector, frequently are in arrears. A public sector wage freeze imposed in 1981 remains in effect and has eroded real income significantly, particularly in the face of consistently high inflation. According to some reports, the average family lives on $170 (86.7 dinars) a month. There is no information available regarding whether the average wage is sufficient to provide a worker and family with a decent standard of living.

 

Labor inspectors are assigned to inspect places of work for compliance with occupational health and safety standards. Certain industries, such as the petroleum sector, attempt to maintain standards set by foreign companies. There is no information regarding whether a worker may remove himself from an unhealthy or unsafe work situation without risking continued employment.

 

Although foreign workers constitute a significant percentage of the work force, the Labor Law does not accord them equality of treatment. Foreign workers may reside in the country only for the duration of their work contracts and may not send more than half of their earnings to their families in their home countries. They are subject to arbitrary pressures, such as changes in work rules and contracts, and have little option but to accept such changes or to depart the country. Foreign workers who are not under contract enjoy no protection.

 

In 1997 the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights cited inadequate housing, threats of imprisonment to those accused of disobeying disciplinary rules, and accusations of causing a variety of societal problems as some of the problems in the Government's treatment of foreign laborers.

 

The Government uses the threat of expulsion of foreign workers as leverage against countries whose foreign policies run counter to the Government's. For example, over 130 Algerians were expelled in 1997.

 

In October mobs of citizens in several locations reportedly killed 150 African workers, leading to the deportation of hundreds of thousands of African workers by the Government. The violence followed similar attacks on African workers in September 2000 (see Section 5).

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

There is no information available regarding whether the law specifically prohibits trafficking in persons.

 

There have been reports of trafficking in persons. On August 28, Senegalese authorities detained 100 young Senegalese women from boarding a charter flight to Libya. According to a media report, two French nationals of Senegalese origin were arrested and charged with organizing international prostitution. In September Senegalese authorities questioned a Senegalese and the French nationals relating to allegations that these women were being sent to Libya to work as prostitutes. Citizens have been implicated in the purchase of Sudanese slaves, mainly southern Sudanese women and children, who were captured by Sudanese Government troops in the ongoing civil war in Sudan (see Section 6.c.).

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* The United States has no official presence in Libya. Information on the human rights situation therefore is limited; this report draws heavily on non-U.S. Government sources.

 

 

LIBYA - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

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

 

LIBYA - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The legal maximum workweek is 48 hours.

 

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