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Sierra Leone - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Freetown

 

CLIMATE

Tropical climate; hot, and humid with a summer rainy season from May to December, and a winter dry season from December to April.

 

LANGUAGES

English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), and Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%).

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Sierra Leone’s legal system is based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes. Sierra Leone has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Sierra Leone Leone (1 USD = 2,100.00 SLL as of May 15, 2002).

 

SIERRA LEONE - COST-OF-LIVING

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

 

SIERRA LEONE - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Freetown

Corner of Walpole and Siaka Stevens Streets

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Telephone: [232] (22) 226-481

Fax: [232] (22) 225-471

 

Embassy of Sierra Leone at Washington D.C.

1701 19th Street N.W.

Washington D.C. 20009

Telephone: (202) 939-9261

Fax: (202) 483-1793

 

SIERRA LEONE - HOLIDAYS

 

SIERRA LEONE - MINIMUM AGE

The official minimum age for employment is 18 years, although children between the ages of 12 and 18 years may be employed in certain nonhazardous occupations, provided they have their parents' consent.

 

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

 

SIERRA LEONE - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

A 1997 law set the minimum wage at 21,000 Leones per month (approximately $10.50); it has not been adjusted since then.

 

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

 

SIERRA LEONE - REMUNERATION

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

 

SIERRA LEONE - 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, and in practice workers had the right to join independent trade unions of their choice. Approximately 60 percent of the workers in urban areas, including government workers, are unionized, but attempts to organize agricultural workers and mineworkers have met with little success. By custom all labor unions join the Sierra Leone Labor Congress (SLLC), but such membership is voluntary. Police and members of the armed services are prohibited from joining unions. There are no reliable statistics on union membership, but membership numbers have declined as a percentage of all workers because of the virtual collapse of the small manufacturing sector.

 

The Trade Union Act provides that any five persons may form a trade union by applying to the registrar of trade unions, who has statutory powers under the act to approve the creation of trade unions. The registrar may reject applications for several reasons, including an insufficient number of members, proposed representation in an industry already served by an existing union, or incomplete documentation. If the registrar rejects an application, the decision may be appealed in the ordinary courts, but applicants seldom take such action.

 

Workers have the right to strike, although the Government can require 21 days' notice. There were several significant strikes in the public sector during the year. Most notably teachers and doctors struck over wages and unpaid salaries in the form of work stoppages and sick-outs. No laws prohibit retaliation against strikers, even for a lawful strike; however, the Government did not take adverse action against the employees and paid some of them back wages. An employee fired for union activities may file a complaint with a labor tribunal and seek reinstatement. Complaints of discrimination against trade unions are made to a tribunal.

 

Unions are free to form federations and to affiliate internationally. The SLLC is a member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The 1971 Regulation of Wages and Industrial Relations Act provides the legal framework for collective bargaining. Collective bargaining must take place in trade group negotiating councils, each of which has an equal number of employer and worker representatives. Most enterprises are covered by collective bargaining agreements on wages and working conditions. The SLLC provides assistance to unions in preparations for negotiations; in case of a deadlock the government may intervene. The Industrial Court for Settlement of Industrial Disputes, required by Section 44 of the 1971 Act, was created and began hearing cases in 2000; however, most cases involving industrial issues continued to go through the normal courts system, and the Industrial Court did not hear any cases during the year. The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination against workers or employer interference in the establishment of unions; however, there were no reports of such cases during the year.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Constitution prohibits forced and bonded labor, including that performed by children; however, forced labor remains a problem. Under the Chiefdom's Council Act, individual chiefs may impose compulsory labor and may require members of their villages to contribute to the improvement of common areas. This practice exists only in rural areas. There is no penalty for noncompliance. There were reports of some compulsory labor, possibly including labor by children in rural areas.

 

Despite releasing many children during the year, the RUF rebels continued to use previously impressed young boys and girls as involuntary servants. Many became fighters with the rebel forces. Women and girls also were forced to act as sexual slaves (see Sections 1.b., 5, and 6.f.).

 

Rebel forces also forced civilians, including children, to labor as porters and as workers in diamond fields under their control despite the signing of the peace accord in 1999 and a July agreement to halt diamond mining until a formal peace accord was signed.

 

d. Status of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The official minimum age for employment is 18 years, although children between the ages of 12 and 18 years may be employed in certain nonhazardous occupations, provided they have their parents' consent. In practice this law is not enforced because there is no government entity charged with the task. Children routinely assist in family businesses and work as petty vendors. In rural areas, children work seasonally on family subsistence farms.

 

Because the adult unemployment rate remains high, few children are involved in the industrial sector. Foreign employers have hired children to work as domestics overseas at extremely low wages and in poor conditions. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is responsible for reviewing overseas work applications to see that no one under the age of 14 is employed for this purpose; however, the reviews were not effective.

 

In February the Government ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

The Constitution prohibits forced and bonded labor, including that by children; however, such practices exist (see Sections 5, 6.c., and 6.f.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

A 1997 law set the minimum wage at approximately $10.50 (21,000 Leones) per month; it has not been adjusted since then. The minimum wage is not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most workers support an extended family, often including relatives who have been displaced by the insurgency in the countryside, and it is common to pool incomes and to supplement wages with subsistence farming.

 

The Government's suggested workweek is 38 hours, but most workweeks for those who are employed exceed that figure.

 

Although the Government sets health and safety standards, it lacks the funding to enforce them properly. Trade unions provide the only protection for workers who file complaints about working conditions. Initially a union makes a formal complaint about a hazardous working condition. If this complaint is rejected, the union may issue a 21-day strike notice. If workers remove themselves from dangerous work situations without making a formal complaint, they risk being fired.

 

The law protects both foreign and domestic workers; however, there are fewer protections for illegal foreign workers.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

No law prohibits trafficking in persons, and there were reports that rebel forces abducted young boys and girls and forced them to work as servants (see Sections 5 and 6.c.). Women and girls also were forced to act as sexual slaves (see Sections 1.b., 5, and 6.c.). Rebel forces also forced civilians, including children, to work as porters and in diamond fields (see Section 6.c.). The Government is attempting to combat these practices by compelling the RUF to disarm and demobilize and by its emphasis on the release of child soldiers.

 

Traffickers sent many victims to the rebel-held diamond fields in eastern Sierra Leone to work as forced laborers (see Section 6.c.).

 

There were no figures available on the extent of the trafficking problem. There were no confirmed reports of persons trafficked outside of the country.

 

 SIERRA LEONE - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

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

 

SIERRA LEONE - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The Government's suggested workweek is 38 hours, but most workweeks for those who are employed exceed that figure.

 

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