Understanding Labour Laws and Employee Relations (For HR Managers and Legal Advisers)

Labor law is essential to the human resources management function; yet it can be complicated and highly specialized. Understanding Labor Laws' course is designed to simplify, clarify, interpret and help organizations abide by the labor laws in Nigeria. It is, basically, labor law made simple.

Course Methodology

This course uses a variety of integrated training approaches including lectures, case studies, PowerPoint presentations, discussions of real legal cases, and group exercises. In addition to the core course material, special handouts will be distributed to participants for easy reference.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate their understanding and applications of labor laws in Nigeria
• Explain the various types of labor law contracts
• Prepare notice letters and understand their terms of use
• Differentiate between types of legal wages
• Calculate, with legal accuracy, working hours, leave and vacation entitlements
• List the various stages of disciplinary actions according to the labor law
• Distinguish between dismissal and termination and learn when to apply the clauses related to each

Target Audience

• HR Managers and officers
• HR Practitioners and consultants
• Legal Advisers and Officers
• Employers of labour
• Employers' Associations
• Trade Union leaders and officials
• Outsourcing companies

Target Competencies

• Deciding and initiating action
• Working with people
• Persuading and influencing
• Analytical thinking
• Following instructions and procedures
• Applying expertise and technology
• Formulating concepts and strategies

Course Outline

• Labor Law Essentials
• The global legal environment
• History of labor law in in Nigeria
• Pre-labor law application in Nigeria
• Identification of exempted categories
• Legal framework of employment in Nigeria
• Legal instruments
• Introduction and overview of labor law
• Enforcement of labor law
• Labor contracts pre-requisites
• Labor law contracts
• Essential contents of contracts
• Employer and employee duties and responsibilities
• The secrets of contracts revealed
• Changes in legal status
• Notice period, probation period and leaves
• Notice period definition
• Guidelines for a notice letter
• Different applications of the notice period
• When a notice is not needed
• Probation period and its practices
• Types of leaves
• Working hours
• Overtime: explanation and calculations for eligibility
• Wages and disciplinary actions
• Total, basic and minimum wages
• Wages payment methodology
• Money deductions from employee wages
• Disciplinary actions and guidelines
• Penalties mentioned in the labor law
• When and why to discipline
• Dismissal and termination
• Arbitrary dismissal
• Unfair dismissal
• Termination from a legal point of view
• Arbitrary termination
• End of service allowances and calculations
• The bright and the dark side of dismissals and terminations
• Legal constraints for a healthy turnover
• Legal insights for human resources professionals