ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate the role that legislator and management standard plays in ensuring the employee’s health care in Nigeria. The employee’s compensation act 2010 and the labour law act determines that an employer must establish and maintain a work environment that is safe and without to the health of the employee. It seems that there is a lack pit falls in the laws with the regard to the employee’s health and wellness. A management standard approach which involves all the role players in the regulation of the employee’s health care should be implemented.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
- Background of Study
- Statement of Problem
- Purpose of Study
- Scope of Study
- Significant of Study
- Definition of Terms
- Legislation
- Employer
- Employee
- Health care
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 History of Employee’s Health Care
2.2 Health Care Financing in Nigeria
2.3 Employee’s Compensation Act 2010
2.4 Labour, Safety, Health and Welfare Bill of 2012
2.5 International Framework of Employee Health Care
2.6 Factory Acts
CHAPTER THREE
LEGISLATING EMPLOYEE’S HEALTH CARE IN NIGERIA, VIS-À-VIS OREDER JURISDICTION
3.1 Employee’s Health Care under Common Law
3.2 Employee Health Care under Labour Act
3.3 United Kingdom
3.4 Netherland
3.5 Finland
CHAPTER FOUR
PROPECT AND CHALLENGES OF LEGISLATING EMPLOYEE’S HEALTH CARE IN NIGERIA
4.1 Prospects
4.2 challenges
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Conclusion
5.2 Recommendation
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
Health care system in Nigeria and the health status of Nigeria are in a deplorable state (Olayiwola 1990, Aluko-arowolo 2005). Nigeria’s overall health system performance was ranted 187th position among the 191 members’ states of the world organization in 2000. In Nigeria persistently low quality and inadequacy of health service have invariably impacted on the health status of the citizens.in terms of health outcome; Available statistics shows that Nigeria has one of the worst health index in the world and sadly accounts for the 10% of the world’s maternal death in child birth. Narrowing this down to this study employee’s health care in Nigeria, the 2014 legislature created the legislative health care work force commission to the study and makes recommendation to the legislature on how to achieve the goal of strengthening the work force in health care and gave it the following charges:
- Identify current and anticipated Health care work force shortage, by both provider type and geography.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of incentives currently available to develop, attract, and retain a highly skilled Health care work force.
- Study alternative incentive to develop, attract and retain a highly skilled and diverse Health care work force.
- Identify current causes and potential solutions to barriers related to the primary care work force.
The commission legislation directed this to provide a preliminary report making recommendations to the legislature by December 31st 2014, and a final report by December 31st 2016 and again in a bid to fulfill the objective of this study, the feature and the challenges of legislations regarding employee’s Health care in Nigeria will be examined vis-à-vis legislating in other jurisdiction in other to profile a remedy to those challenges.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The statements as referred to work are the challenge or problems with the effectiveness of the legislation on employees’ health in Nigeria. Employees are to obtain sufficient remedies towards the injury they accrue during work at the work place in the cause of employment
1.3 Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the legislative body to ensure that the safety of employees is taken seriously. However, it seems that priorities in industrialized and developing countries differ in substantiality. Employees health aspect are covered in the employee’s compensation act 2010, but regarding employees health still lacks to a large extent.
The employees’ health should aim at the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social of workers in all, the prevention amongst workers of departure from health caused by their working condition; the protection of workers, in their employment situation, from the risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the employee.
1.4 Scope of Study
The legislating employee’s Health care in Nigeria can be discussed in various broad heading but the researcher will be limited to existing regulatory laws in Nigeria relating to employee’s health care.
1.5 Significance of Study
- To law students /teachers: to ensure scholars of law to decipher the extent of the laws regulatory Health care.
- To employees: to enlighten them as to the extent of their rights and their remedies if any.
- To employers: it would assist employer whether public or private to align themselves with the laws.
- Government /international bodies: the comparative analysis would aid government and international bodies to compare their laws on employee’s Health care with that of other foreign jurisdiction
1.6 Definition of Terms:
1.6.1 Legislation
Legislation is the law which have been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body or the process of making it.(1)Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as “legislation” while it remains under consideration of distinguish it from other business. Legislation can have many purposes; to regulate, to authorize, to outlaw, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare, or to restrict. It may be contrasted with a non-legislative act which is adopted by an executive or administrative body under the authority of a legislative act(2) under the Westminster system, an item of primary legislation is known as an Act of parliament after enactment.
Legislation is usually proposed by a member of the legislature (e.g. a member of congress or parliament) or by the executive, whereupon it is debated by members of the legislature and is often amended before passage. Most large legislatures enact only a small fraction of the bills proposed in a given session (3) whether a member of the legislation is regarded as one of the three main functions of government, which are often distinguished under the separation of powers. Those who have the formal powers to create legislation are known as legislators. A judicial branch of government will have the formal power to interpret legislation. [1]The executive branch of government can act only within the power and limits set by law.
1.6.2 Employer
A legal entity that controls and directs a servant or worker under an express or implied contract of employment and pays (or is obligated to pay) him or her salary or wages in compensation.
An employer is an organization, institution, government entity, agency, company, professional services firm, non-profit association, small business, store or individual who employs or puts to work, a person who is called an employee. In exchange for the employee’s work or services, the employer pays compensation that may include as salary, and hourly wage, and benefits that are above the federally mandated minimum wage in the use.
Most employers offer employees a comprehensive employee benefits package as they can afford to offer benefits, including health insurance and paid time off, holidays, the vacation. Starting in 2016, under the affordable care act, employers that have at least 50 employees (50 full time equivalent employees must provide health insurance or pay a fee. If employers do not have 50 or more employees, they can whether or not to provide benefits. These employees can pay just the salary or hourly wage and do not provide employee benefits. Employers can hire employees as exempt employees who receive a salary for completing a whole job, such as $60,000 a year; for supervising the quality department. Employees who are exempt must meet strict standards. An employer cannot just decide to pay someone a salary and label them exempt.
For instance, an employee can have a managerial exemption where she where she supervises others, or a professional exemption as an attorney, or an administrative exemption as finance project manager.
Exempt employees receive the same salary each pay period regardless of the number of hours they worked. Employers cannot dock the wages of an employee who goes home early, for instance. Employees can also be nonexempt or hourly workers who are paid an hourly wage, such as $14.00 an hour, for each hour worked, and whose pay is subject to the terms of the fair labor standards Act.
1.6.3 Employee
Who is an employee? Employment may arise out of an agreement which is not enforceable in the Law court because it lacks consideration which is one of the essential ingredients of enforceability. For example, any one may offer his services or labour to another for no reward or payment we are not here concerned with that type of employment which today and is more likely to be met with only within family arrangements. The typical employment today arises from a contract – an enforceable agreement between one person who offers his services or labour to another in return for payment.
Employment may, however, give rise to a number of different relationships. A person may be employed as an employee,4an independent centre or as an agent.5 Although, the relationship of employer and employee bears resemblance to those of both the principal and independent contractor, and the principal and agent relationship, there is no doubt that the former relationship is distinguishable from either of the two latter cognate relationships. Indeed there are some practical reasons why this distinction may sometimes have to be made. In the first place, the common law implies certain duties and imports in the relationship of the employer and employees which are not necessarily applicable in these other relationship.6 Secondly; the common law doctrine of vicarious liability is confirmed to the relation of the employer and employee. An employer may be held vicariously liable for a tort committed by his employee in the cause of the employer carrying out his employee carrying out his duties under his contract of employment. Thirdly, the various labour statues do not generally apply to those who are not employee at common law.
Where the well-known features of an employer – employee relationship are present, it is easy enough to identify the relationship. This is so in the vast majority of cases.
Among the common features of a service contract are an obligation by the employer to employ a man, and to pay him an agreed amount or proper wage, and a report to control his service and the manner in which he performs them and to dismiss turn if reasonable cause is known and shown, and on the workman’s side, he must obey all reasonable directions, present himself for work at an agreed hour and continue to work the agreed period, and will be guilty of breach of contract if he refuses to perform these obligation.
However, difficulties may arise in cases where some of these indices of the relationship are not present. As Denning [.] (As he then was) said in Stevenson, Jordan and Harrison Ltd V MacDonald and Evans. “It is often easy to recognize a contract of service when you see it, but difficult to say wherein the difference lies.[2]
1.6.4 Health Care
This is the act of taking preventive or necessary medical procedures to improve a person’s well-being. This may be done with surgery, the administering of medicine or other alternation in a person’s lifestyle. These services are typically offered through a health care system made up of hospitals and physician
1 See Article 289(3) of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union
2 Wim voermans (December 2009) “is the legislator after Lisbon a real legislature?” –Legislacao Cadernos de Ciencia de Legislacao. 50: 391-413(402).
“Within the category of loyal acts provided for by the TFEU, a distinction is made between legislative acts and non-legislative acts. Legislative acts are decision adopted under the ordinary or special legislative procedure (Article 289(3) of the TFEU) and non-legislative acts are decisions that are adopted pursuant to delegation or for the purpose of implementing a legislative act (Articles 35 see Article 288 of the TFEU, last 290 and 291 of the TFEU)”
3 senate gov.
4) In earlier law even quite often days, employee is referred to as a servant and the employee as a master, the relation is the same.
5) The independent contractor is often referred to or described as a self-employed person.
6) per.romer L.J in Denham V mid-land employers’ mutual assurance Ltd (1955) 2Q B 437,446
E.E Uvieghare, labour law in Nigeria (first edition 2001 Lagos:mata house press Ltd) P3
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