Definitions Labour Rights Index 2020

APPENDIX V: DEFINITIONS

Annual Leave: Paid time off from work to which all employees are entitled during each working year.,
Child: Any young person under 15 years of age (14 years in developing countries), or who is still subject to compulsory full-time schooling under national law.
Collective Agreement: All agreements in writing regarding working conditions and terms of employment concluded between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations, on the one hand, and one or more representative workers' organisations, or, in the absence of such organisations, the representatives of the workers duly elected and authorised by them in accordance with national laws and regulations, on the other. (Para. 2(1) of the R91)
Collective Bargaining: A process of negotiation between unions and employers regarding the terms and conditions of employment of employees, and about the rights and responsibilities of trade unions.,
Compensation: Compensation is a form of recompense, both in the form of monetary reparation or time-off, for those working “unsocial hours” i.e., those working overtime, at night, weekly rest days and public holidays.
Contributory Benefits System: Benefits the grant of which depends on direct financial participation by the persons protected or their employer or on a qualifying period of occupational activity. (Art. 1(j) of the C128),
De jure: All such practices and actions which are legally recognised, irrespective of whether they exist in practice. De jure (based on law) is used in contrast to de facto (in practice).
Discrimination: Any distinction, exclusion or preference based on race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, age, disability and trade union membership that has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation.
Employment Segregation: The concentration of women and men in different types and levels of activity and employment, with women being confined to a narrower range of occupations than men (horizontal segregation), and to lower grades of work (vertical segregation).
Equal remuneration for work of equal value: Rates of remuneration which are established without discrimination based on sex.
Essential services: Services, the interruption of which may endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. However, the concept is not absolute. A non-essential service may become essential if a strike lasts beyond a certain time or extends beyond a certain scope. The following may be considered to be essential services in the strict sense of the term: the hospital sector; electricity services; water supply services; the telephone service; the police and the armed forces; the firefighting services; the public or private prison services; the provision of food to pupils of school age and the cleaning of schools; air traffic control. (ILO CFA Digest of decisions and principles, Para. 840)
Fixed-term Contract: An employment contract entered into directly between an employer and a worker, where the end of the employment contract or relationship is determined by objective conditions such as reaching a specific date, completing a specific task, or the occurrence of a specific event.
Forced Labour: All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. Exceptions include compulsory military service; certain civic obligations; prison labour; work exacted in cases of emergency; and minor communal services.
Gig Economy: The gig economy is a combination of online/digital marketplaces for engaging individuals for short-term tasks. These mini marketplaces are also referred to as digital labour platforms. The platform economy distinguishes between two major forms of work: crowd work and work on demand via apps. Crowd work is performed online and is location-independent. ‘Work on demand via apps’, on the other hand, matches the worker and the client digitally and the work is performed locally. Activities include transportation, food delivery and home services.
Fundamental workers' rights: Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, freedom from forced labour, child labour and discrimination.
Invalidity Benefit: Cash payments on account of complete or partial inability to participate gainfully in the labour market due to disability. The invalidity may be congenital, or be the result of an accident or illness during the victim's lifetime. Invalidity is also referred to as disability.
Light Work: All work that is not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or development of children on account of the inherent nature of the tasks involved and the particular conditions under which they are performed.
Living Wage: The level of wages sufficient to meet the basic living needs of an average-sized family in a particular economy.
Maternity Leave: Leave to which a woman is entitled for a continuous period, allocated before and/or after giving birth in accordance with national legislation and practice.
Minimum Wage: A wage level, defined in law or agreement, which is the lowest possible rate an employer is permitted to pay.
Night Time: Any period of not less than seven hours, as defined by national law, and which must include in any case the period between midnight and 5 a.m.
Night Worker: A worker who works at least three hours of his/her daily working time during night time as a normal course.
Overtime: The working hours of a worker in excess of the standard established by law, a collective bargaining agreement, an individual employment contract or company policy. Such hours are generally paid for at "penalty" or overtime rates.
Occupational Accident: An Occupational accident is an unexpected and unplanned occurrence, including acts of violence, arising out of or in connection with work which results in one or more workers incurring a personal injury, disease or death. The occupational accidents are to be considered as travel, transport or road traffic accidents in which workers are injured and which arise out of or in the course of work, i.e. while engaged in economic activity, or at work, or carrying on the business of the employer.
Parental Leave: The individual right to leave, in principle on a non-transferable basis, for all male and female workers following the birth or adoption of a child, to enable them to take care of that child. There is usually a fixed amount of leave or fixed amounts of time in any year or period of years that may be taken for reasons concerning care responsibilities.
Part-time Work: Work arrangement implying working hours that are shorter than normal or standard full-time hours.
Paternity Leave: Employment-protected leave of absence for employed fathers at or in the first few months after childbirth.
Permanent worker: A worker with an employment contract or relationship of an indefinite duration.,
Probationary Period: A fixed-length monitoring period allowed by law for new employees to determine whether they have the skills and abilities needed to perform the assignment in their employment contract.
Remuneration: Ordinary, basic or minimum wage or salary and any additional emoluments whatsoever payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of the worker's employment.
Sexual Harassment Sanctions: Legislation may provide for civil remedies and/or criminal penalties. The aim of civil remedies is to restore the victim to the position they were in before the sexual harassment occurred. These include recovery of monetary or emotional damages or compensation to the victims even after they have left employment. Criminal penalties penalise the perpetrator of harassment for committing sexual harassment. These include monetary fines and imprisonment.
Severance Payment: The final payment made to a worker when his/her employment is terminated.
Social protection: Used interchangeably with ‘social security’, it is the set of policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion throughout the life cycle. It includes nine main areas, as identified in C102: child and family benefits, maternity protection, unemployment support, employment injury benefits, sickness benefits, health protection (medical care), old-age benefits, invalidity/disability benefits, and survivors’ benefits. Social protection systems address all these policy areas by a mix of contributory schemes (social insurance) and non-contributory tax-financed benefits (including social assistance).
Strike: A concerted temporary stoppage of or withdrawal from work by a group of workers of an establishment or several establishments to express a concern or to enforce demands affecting wages, working hours and/or working conditions.,
Violence and Harassment: A range of unacceptable behaviours and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm.
Gender-based Violence and Harassment: Violence and harassment directed at persons because of their sex or gender, or affecting persons of a particular sex or gender disproportionately, and includes sexual harassment.
Trade Union: An association of workers organised to project and promote their common interests.,
Wage: The payment in exchange for labour provided under a contract of employment. Wages are calculated according to time-rate or piece-rate systems. The gross wage is the wage before deduction of taxes and other authorised deductions.
Work Injury Benefit: Cash payments on account of complete or partial inability to participate gainfully in the labour market due to disability or fatality caused by an occupational accident.