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Employment & Industrial Relations

Labour and Employment Issues

In Barbados, the Severance Payments Act is most analogous to the Baby WARN Acts within the United States. The Severance Payments Act provides payments to employees who have been laid off by their employers. While Baby WARN Acts tend to provide employees that are to be laid off with at least 60 days notice, the Severance Payments Act provides employees, in some instances, with only one week's notice. Under the Severance Payments Act, an employee can also receive up to four weeks' notice depending on the employee's length of continuous employment with the employer.

More importantly, while Baby WARN Acts require employers to give 60 days notice of lay-offs in order to avoid severance payment of salaries and benefits to their employees, the Severance Payments Act requires that employers give notice of lay-offs and still entitles employees to severance payments. Moreover, unlike the Baby WARN Acts, the Severance Payments Act limits severance to those between the ages of 16 and 65 years of age. Also, unlike Baby WARN Acts, the Severance Payments Act allows an employee to waive his right to notice from an employer. Further, whereas the Baby WARN Acts require that employers need only give notice when they have 100 or more full time workers, the Severance Payments Act does not have a minimum employee number requirement.

Finally, the Severance Payments Act does not reduce the amount of payment due to an employee because of any right or claim to payment the employee has due to him.

Generally, an employee in Barbados does not waive or release himself from his legislative rights, whether or not the employee has entered into a binding contract stating that the employee will be waiving those legislative rights.

Within Barbados, no protected categories beyond Title VII in the United States exist. Specifically, Barbados' constitution prohibits discrimination on the "grounds of race, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed."

In Barbados, minimum wage and overtime rules analogous to the FLSA in the United States, exist. Formally, the relevant Minister can prescribe the hours and wages for three sets of workers in Barbados as he sees fit, pursuant to various legislation - Domestic Employees, through the "Domestic Employees (Hours of Duty) Act," Shop Assistants, through the "Shops Act," and workers within the sugar industry, through the "Sugar Workers (Minimum Wage and Guaranteed Employment) Act." For example, within the sugar industry, the Cabinet of Barbados can prescribe minimum wages for employees within the sugar industry if the Cabinet deems that the workers' current wages are "unreasonably low."

In Barbados, the employment-at-will doctrine exists, with significant modifications. Specifically, the Model Harmonization Act regarding Termination of Employment ("Model Act"), which was adopted in 1995 by the Standing Committee of Ministers responsible for Labour, and has been used in Barbados to draft pending Bills relating to the termination of employment, states that an employer can terminate an employee only for cause. Thus, while Barbados may allow employment without a contract per se, a criterion of employment-at-will, Barbados still requires that the employer have a reason for terminating the employee, unlike the traditional employee-at-will doctrine.

If an employer lays off an employee, then the employer must follow the requirements of the Severance Payments Act (described above). If, however, the employer terminates an employee because of the employee's conduct, the employer is not obliged to do anything upon termination. For example, the employer is not required to give notice to the employee before the employee's termination or provide the employee with a severance payment if the employee is terminated because of his conduct.

Within Barbados, the equivalent of the FMLA in the United States, is the Employment of Women (Maternity Leave) Act, which provides for twelve weeks of maternity leave to female employees and for the protection of the employment of those employees during maternity leave.

Similar to the FMLA, the leave granted by the Employment of Women (Maternity Leave) Act is in addition to paid time off to which the employee is entitled. In order to qualify for a grant of maternity leave, the employee must be employed for at least twelve months by the employer from whom she requests maternity leave. Additionally, unlike the FMLA, the female employee is not entitled to maternity leave by the same employer on more than three occasions. Finally, no employer can "give notice of dismissal" to an employee during the period between her grant of maternity leave and while she is on maternity leave, unless the employee has done something which constitutes gross negligence on the part of the employee or the employer goes out of business.

There is no law requiring employers to give employees access to, or a copy of, their personnel records. Personnel records are the property of the employer. Accordingly, an organization generally has discretion over whether to give employees access to their personnel files.

Barbados does not outlaw or restrict drug tests, alcohol tests, genetic tests or any other kind of testing.

Barbados does not have any special rules on the payment of sales commissions to employees.

In Barbados, non-competes and related agreements are enforced in the same manner as standard contracts entered into between two consenting parties.

Employment Contracts

An employment contract is not essential for the investor to work in Barbados, but it may assist in making a work permit application.

When an application for a work permit is made, the Immigration Department will want to know how long the applicant wants to remain in Barbados and the position in which he will be employed. An employment contract assists in providing this information.

The contract need not be with a Barbados resident, but companies carrying on business in Barbados are required to be registered in Barbados as external companies.

Labour Availability

Barbados, as a result of its high standard of education, has a very skilled and well educated work force. Unskilled workers are also easily trained. The labour force is estimated at 147,100.

Employer/Employee Relations

Employer/employee relations are governed by the common law and by several pieces of legislation. The primary pieces of legislation are as follows:

There is an obligation to train employees under the Factories Act which is aimed at ensuring that employees are trained prior to the use of dangerous machines. Save for the Factories Act, there are no other statutory obligations to train employees.

By virtue of the Occupational Training Act, employers may undertake the obligation of training apprentices or trainees. If an employer wishes to do so, he must apply to the Director of Training of the Barbados Vocational Training Board for permission. The applicant's establishment is then reviewed to determine whether it can satisfactorily provide reasonable opportunities for the proper training of the number of persons he proposes to train as apprentices or trainees. The apprentice/trainee must be at least 16 years old (the consent of a parent or guardian is required if the apprentice/trainee is under the age of 18 years old).

Unions

Unions are recognized in Barbados pursuant to the Trade Unions Act, Chapter 361 of the laws of Barbados.

There are four (4) major unions in Barbados:

The Barbados Workers Union
The National Union of Public Workers
Barbados Union of Teachers

There is no obligation on the part of the employer to organize unions.

Employment Regulations

Employment of nationals

As long as there are suitably qualified nationals of Barbados for any employment, an employer will not be permitted to employ a non-national to fill a vacancy. Non-nationals require work permits or work permit exemptions (if applicable). Prior to employing a non-national, the employer must advertise the position in the newspapers. In the event that there are no suitable responses to the advertisement, the employer may then apply to the Chief Immigration Officer for a work permit for a non-national.

Minimum Wage

There is a minimum wage for sugar workers pursuant to the Sugar Workers (Minimum Wage and Guaranteed Employment) Act, Chapter 359 of the laws of Barbados. There is also a minimum wage for domestic employees (i.e. a person employed for reward for the purpose of performing household duties in a private dwelling house).

Working Hours

The number of hours in any one (1) week (excluding meal intervals) during which a shop assistant (i.e. a person wholly or mainly employed in a shop in connection with serving customers, receipt of money or orders for goods, or the delivery of goods) may remain or may be employed in a shop shall not exceed forty (40) hours. No domestic employee shall be employed for more than forty four (44) hours in any one week. Work hours are otherwise largely dictated by the contract of employment. In Barbados the custom is a forty hour work week, Monday to Friday. Unless overtime is a condition of employment, employees cannot be forced to work overtime.

Provided that the employer is not operating a shop, employers and employees may agree on the amount of payment for any overtime work performed.

Vacation and Sick Days

Employees are entitled to a holiday with pay of three weeks per year after nine months of employment. In the fifth year of employment, the employee is entitled to four weeks holiday per year.

An employee who is ill is allowed up to two days sick leave without presentation of a medical practitioner's certificate of incapacity. If the sick leave persists beyond the second day, the employee is required to provide a medical practitioner's certificate.

Safety Standards

Certain standards must be complied with pursuant to the Factories Act, Chapter 347 of the laws of Barbados, where an employer operates a factory. A factory would include a slaughter house, premises in which the work carried on is primarily based on handling machinery and a manufacturing plant. Generally factories must ensure that dangerous parts of machinery must be securely fenced to ensure safety. Machinery which is imported into or constructed in Barbados must also comply with certain statutory requirements in relation to safety.

The person with control over the factory has a general obligation to keep the factory safe so far as is reasonably practicable so that the safety of persons in the factory is not likely to be endangered.

Employment and Termination of Employment Hiring

There is no obligation to employ a minimum number of people. Subject to our comments above in relation to the employment of non-nationals in instances where there are nationals who are suitably qualified there is no obligation:

to employ a minimum number of nationals and
for nationals to hold certain positions in a company.

Termination or Dismissal

In addition to the common law principle that a contract for an indefinite period of time is terminable by reasonable notice there are various statutory provisions which provide for the notice of termination which must be given to certain employees and the payment of their severance payments, if applicable. Generally unless there is just cause for the termination of the employment, the employer is required to give notice of termination to the employee or payment in lieu of such notice.

As long as the employer has satisfied all monetary compensation payments due to the former employee, the employer will have no continuing obligation towards that employee.

Q&A Contact

If you have a question about any information on this page please contact: ghc@clarkes.com.bb

Employment & Industrial Relations