Employment and Labour
Our Employment and Labour Practice team boasts a formidable track record in guiding Uganda's corporate and business community through the intricacies of employment, health and safety, and pension fund matters. With a keen focus on dispute resolution and commercial transactions impacting employees, our expertise is unmatched.
We excel in advising on pivotal transactions such as corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing arrangements, collective terminations/redundancies, and labour law compliance audits. These transactions often carry significant implications for employee pensions, benefits, and conditions of service.
Our team is adept at structuring staff handbooks and human resources manuals, crafting terms and conditions of employment benefit schemes, designing employee reward programs, and conducting comprehensive Human Resource trainings.
In dispute resolution, our prowess covers a broad spectrum of private and statutory forums and mechanisms, including arbitration, engagement with Labour Officers, appearances in Industrial Courts, and representation before the Commissioner for Labour.
Furthermore, we extend our support to multinational corporations and entities seeking to engage and retain foreign employees in Uganda as expatriates. We provide expert legal counsel to both employers and employees navigating the complexities of obtaining special passes, work permits, and dependent passes. Our proficiency in immigration and nationality laws ensures our clients secure the necessary legal authorization to work seamlessly in Uganda.
Milestones
- Successfully represented Uganda Communications Commission in an arbitration dispute worth UGX.13,000,000,000/= (Thirteen billion shillings) instituted by its former employees arising from a restructuring exercise (undertaken) by the Commission.
- Advising Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construcao Africa S.A (Uganda Branch) in connection with all employment related matters, which include workers compensation, collective terminations.
- We have also advised Mota-Engil Engenharia Africa S.A (Uganda Branch) in the negotiation and implementation of the collective bargaining agreement and mutual recognition with the National Union of Infrastructure, Civil Works and Wood Workers Union (NUICWW).
- We advise Mota Engil on all employment related matters arising from the Northern Bypass Road Construction Project, and the North East Road Asset Management Projects in line with the World Bank guidelines.
- Advised Toyota Uganda Limited, an International Motor Vehicle manufacturer, on all legal aspects of their day to day operations including advising on labour and employment matters such as terminations, review of the company Human Resource Manual to align it with current employment law and practice, and advising on the social security and employee benefits scheme.
- Reviewed the Human Resource Manual for GCC Services Uganda Limited, and advising them on all employee related aspects.
- Advised Management Sciences for Health on redundancy termination for its management employees.
- Advised Kantar TNS RMS Uganda on the labour issues arising from the closure of their business operations in Uganda.
- Advising SolarNow Ltd on all aspects labour and employment aspects in relation to their business operations.
- Advising Community Health Alliance on termination of some of their senior employees.
- Advised Premier Recruitment Limited on the requirements of setting up and initial operation of a company engaged in the export of skilled and semi-skilled migrant labour.
- Advising Livingstone University on employment matters related to their business operations.
- Advised Apolo Hotel Corporation Ltd T/A Sheraton Kampala Hotel to compile their human resource manual and employee collective bargaining agreement. We also represented the hotel in court in all labour disputes by and against the Hotel.
- Advised Sanlam Life Insurance on their staff Retirement Benefits Scheme.
- Representing Centenary Rural Development Bank in employment and labour matters brought against the Bank.
- Advising Saba Gifco (U) Limited on all employment matters in related to their business operations.
- Advised a Construction Company on the investigations and prosecution of Sexual Harassment claims and drafted a Sexual Harassment Policy.
- Conducted multiple Sexual Harassment Investigations on behalf of clients pursuant to the Employment (Sexual Harassment) Regulations.
- Advising a Coffee processing and export Company on its restructuring exercise.
- Advising ABC Capital Bank on its HR Policy compliance status and representing the Bank before the Commissioner for Labour at the Ministry of Gender, Labour & Social Development.
- Retained by a Cement Manufacturing company to render advice and represent it in relation to its Human Resources operations and disciplinary proceedings requirements and disputes.
- Successfully and seamlessly applied for and obtained work permits for diverse clients across many sectors, including Banking and Finance, Infrastructure Projects, Oil & Gas sectors.
- Supported multiple clients in the Education and Banking sectors in relation to their employment exit management processes relating to their operational exits from Uganda.
Articles on Employment and Labour
Employment and Labour related FAQs
The main difference is that an employee’s relationship is created under a “contract of service” while independent contractors are hired under a “contract for services.” A contract of service is one, oral or written, express or implied, where one agrees to work for an employer in return for remuneration. The employer controls the work of the employee by setting working hours and dictating how a particular task should be done.
On the other hand, independent contractors are usually separate entities or individuals hired for a specific task. Independent contractors are usually experts in their fields. They set their own working hours and in order to obtain payment they have to present an invoice contrary to employees who receive a monthly pay.
Summary dismissal is where an employer fires an employee instantly, without notice or with less notice than that to which the employee is entitled.
An employer may dismiss an employee summarily where the employee has, by his or her conduct indicated that he or she has fundamentally breached his or her obligations arising under the contract of service and such dismissal shall be termed as justified. Under common law, circumstances that are considered as justifying summary dismissal include: Serious misconduct (positive, intentional, or wilful wrongdoing); Wilful refusal to obey a lawful and reasonable instruction; and incompetence and neglect.
Constructive dismissal is a situation where an employee resigns due to the conduct of an employer. The contract of service is ended by the employee with or without notice, as a consequence of unreasonable conduct on the part of the employer towards the employee.
Yes, but it depends on how long the employee is absent due to illness. The law in Uganda allows an employer to terminate the contract of service of an employee who is absent for more than 2 months.
