labor law

The Department of Labor, Cooperatives, and Consumer Affairs is reminding employers across St. Lucia that they are legally required to cooperate with workplace inspections conducted by authorized labor officers.

Under the Labor Act, officers are empowered to inspect workplaces, examine equipment and working conditions, and identify potential safety hazards.

Employers must provide access and assistance as obstructing an authorized officer is an offense punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.

The department says workplace inspections help prevent accidents and injuries and ensure safety standards are met.

Officers and employees of public and private offices, whether domestic or overseas, shall be subjected to undergo a random drug test as contained in the company's work rules and regulations, which shall be borne by the employer, for purposes of reducing the risk in the workplace.

Any officer or employee found positive for use of dangerous drugs shall be dealt with administratively which shall be a ground for suspension or termination, subject to the provisions of Article 282 of the Labor Code and pertinent provisions of the Civil Service Law.

30.

In the case of Social Justice Society v.

2016 and 2019 lumbar spine MRI, a 2009 radiographic X-ray image of the right shoulder, and a 2004 operative report of the left knee, which causes the QME to revise his causation analysis, and that results in the lumbar spine, 20% of the disability being caused by multilevel degenerative disc disease and facet arthropathy, documented on the 2016 mri and and and it shows that it's progressive on the 2019 study independent of work and of note that is all prior to the employment with the current employer uh as to the right shoulder it's now 40 caused by pre-existing radiographically documented type 3 acromion and rotator cuff tendinosis before uh 2009 that that's being present and unrelated to the uh current employment And then finally, the left knee is now reduced to 50% caused by the 2004 non-industrial ACL reconstruction with residual chondral effects, which the CUME opines would have produced the same disability by this stage in life regardless of employment.

And then finally, the defendant is able to prove, demonstrate the 2017 stipulated award and that there's an overlap pursuant to labor code section 4664 subsection B. I'll get into that a little later in the presentation.

After all that, the apportionment now reduced with apportionment applied, the PD under the CDC drops to 35 percent.

So you can see how that becomes very significant for the employer in terms of mitigating their damages.

Now, the statutory framework.

And this is this is where you really want to focus on.

If you haven't really read Labor Code Section 4663 and 4664, I implore you to do so and become very familiar with it.

Labor Code Section 4663 is basically a portion of permanent disability looking at.

Like we have a paper trail that we've actually done our own part.

You know, what we are forgetting is that it's something called the labor law, which organizations take their bearings from.

Which organizations take their bearings from.

Okay.

So you see, there are different ways to fire.

From your own standpoint, do you think that...

The Nigerian labor law is strong enough for it to be able to control its people or is just still finding its balance?

It's strong enough, actually, if you ask me, because we would think that some people may think that, oh, it doesn't work, not until they come knocking.

Welcome to the Employment Law and HR Podcast with your host, Allison Colley.

Hello and welcome to this episode 269 of the Employment Law and HR podcast.

I'm your host Alison Collie.

I'm an employment solicitor and HR specialist and I run the firm Real Employment Law Advice where together with my colleagues we provide advice and support to both employers and employees.

Our flagship service is our HR Harbour Membership Service, which is designed for employers who want to have the peace of mind of knowing that they have qualified employment lawyers and HR specialists on the end of the phone when they need them.

We provide reactive support, so support whenever businesses need it, but we also work on a proactive basis.

So we can help you to cover off all of the legislative changes and make sure that you are safeguarding your business or organisation from potential employment tribunal claims.

So this is the introduction of the seafarers wages and working conditions regulations which means there will be new regulations for seafarers which will introduce higher standards requirements in relation to health and safety, to pay, to rest breaks and to job security and this will take place in December of 26.

This week, we're sharing an interview that we conducted with the author and organizer Daniel Gross about his new book, Unions of Our Own, Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World, out now from Haymarket Books.

We discuss Daniel's organizing experience, the process of putting together his new book, and the legacy of Stoughton Lind, Daniel's mentor and co-author of Labor Law for the Rank and File.

You can find a bunch of links in our show notes, including to a past interview with Stoughton Lind.

We hope that you enjoy the show.

Is this correct? And is the DIY approach what you would consider the most effective, most direct approach, if that makes sense?

Yeah, no, I'm happy to speak to that.

So the book you're referencing that Stott and I did is Labor Law for the Rank and Filer.

And that just to kind of differentiate it so folks can kind of maybe want to read both or read one or the other.

One is from the EEOC, the U.S., Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and that's the frequently asked questions about Indian tribes and tribal employment rights offices.

I've also got in there Kane Smith's authoritative treatise, Labor and Employment Law in Indian Country.

And then I've got a Michigan Bar Journal study, Labor and Employment Law and American Indian Tribes.

from, I think that was from 2004.

And with that, there was this history of common law of that type of structure as well.

This really started to change in the late 1800s.

There was a treatise by a guy called Horace Greywoods in 1877. that some attribute as sort of launching the American at-will rule, but it was quickly adopted by U.S. courts.

There were some cases that you can look into if you're interested, Martin versus New York Life Insurance, Payne versus West Atlantic Railroad.