CHAPTER
318
RECRUITING OF WORKERS |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
|
|
|
Persons who recruit to be licensed. |
Non-adults not to be recruited. |
|
|
Return of workers to their homes. |
|
Power to make regulations. |
CHAPTER 318 |
RECRUITING OF
WORKERS |
An Act to
regulate the recruitment of workers. | 28 of 1939
E.L.A.O., 1974
5 of 1987 |
[Assent 27th
February, 1939]
[Commencement 1st October, 1940] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Recruiting of Workers
Act. | Short title. |
2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise
requires- | Interpretation. |
"Convention"
means the Convention concerning the regulation of certain Special Systems of
Recruiting Workers adopted by the International Labour Conference in June,
1936; |
"licensing
officer" means a person appointed by the Governor-General acting in
accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission, to be a licensing
officer for the purposes of this Act; |
"licensee"
means the holder of a licence under this Act; |
"magistrate"
means a stipendiary and circuit magistrate or a commissioner; |
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for Labour; |
"prescribed"
means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; |
"worker"
means a person who is intended to be employed in manual work of any kind,
including the work of stevedore. |
(2) A person recruits
within the meaning of this Act who by himself or through others procures,
engages, hires or supplies or undertakes or attempts to procure, engage, hire
or supply workers for the purpose of being employed by himself or by any other
person, so long as such worker does not spontaneously offer his services at the
place of employment or at a public emigration or employment office or at an
office conducted by an employers' organisation and supervised by the
Government. |
3. The provisions of this Act shall apply to- | Application of Act. |
(a) the
recruitment of workers for employment outside The Bahamas; and |
(b) the
recruitment of personal or domestic servants or non-manual workers for work
outside The Bahamas if such recruiting is done by professional recruiting
agents. |
4. (1) No person shall recruit workers unless he is
licensed in that behalf under the provisions of this Act. | Persons who recruit to be licensed. |
(2) Every person desirous
of obtaining a licence under this section shall apply to a licensing officer
who may in his discretion issue a licence- |
(a) if he is
satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person to be granted a
licence; |
(b) if the
prescribed security has been furnished; and |
(c) if he is
satisfied that adequate provision has been made for safeguarding the health and
welfare of the workers to be recruited. |
(3) A licence
shall be subject to such conditions as shall be prescribed, and shall not be
transferable. |
(4) No licence
shall be issued for a period exceeding one year, but it may be renewed if a
licensing officer is satisfied that the conditions on which it was granted have
been complied with. |
(5) A licensing
officer may cancel any licence in any case where the licensee has been
convicted of an offence under this Act or the regulations made thereunder or
has not complied with the conditions under which it. was granted or is guilty
of conduct which in the opinion of the licensing officer renders him no longer
a fit and proper person to hold a licence: and a licensing officer may suspend
any licence pending the decision of the court or the making of any inquiry
which he shall consider necessary. |
(6) Any person
aggrieved by any decision of the licensing officer under this section may
appeal to the Governor-General. |
5. Persons under the age of eighteen shall not be
recruited. | Non-adults not to be recruited. |
6. (1) Recruited workers shall- | Examination of workers. |
(a) be brought
before a magistrate; and |
(b) be
medically examined in accordance with regulations made under this Act. |
(2) The magistrate
before whom any recruited worker is brought shall satisfy himself that the
provisions of this Act and the regulations made thereunder have been observed
and that the worker has not been subjected to pressure or recruited by
misrepresentation or mistake. |
7. The expenses of the journey of recruited workers
(and their families if authorised by agreement to accompany them) to the place
of employment, including all expenses incurred for their protection during the
journey, shall be borne, and necessaries for the journey shall be provided by
the recruiter or employer in accordance with regulations under this Act. | Expenses of workers. |
8. A recruited worker who- | Return of workers to their homes. |
(a) becomes
incapacitated by sickness or accident during the journey to his place of
employment; |
(b) is found on
medical examination to be unfit for employment; |
(c) is not
engaged after being recruited for a reason for which he is not responsible; or |
(d) is found by
a magistrate to have been recruited by pressure or by misrepresentation or
mistake, |
and the
family (if authorised by agreement to accompany him) of such recruited worker,
and the family (if authorised by agreement to accompany him) of a recruited
worker who dies during the journey to the place of employment, shall be
returned to their homes at the expense of the recruiter or employer in
accordance with regulations made under this Act. |
9. Any person who acts in contravention of or fails to
comply with any of the provisions of this Act, or the regulations made
thereunder, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary
conviction to a fine of four hundred dollars or to imprisonment
for twelve months or to both such fine and imprisonment. | Offences. |
10. The Minister may make regulations not inconsistent
with this Act for the purpose of giving effect thereto, or to any of the
provisions of the Convention; and without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing power he may by regulation provide for- | Power to make regulations. |
(a) the manner
and form in which application shall be made for licences, the particulars to be
furnished upon every such application, the conditions under which any licence
may be issued, the form of licences, the fees payable therefor, and the
particulars to be set forth therein; |
(b) the
security to be furnished by applicants for licences; |
(c) the records
to be kept by licensees; |
(d) the
restriction of recruiting to certain areas; |
(e) the form of
written contract to be entered into between the recruited worker and the
licensee; |
(f) the
provision of transport for recruited workers and their families from the place
of recruitment to the place of employment; |
(g) the amount
of wages which may be paid in advance to recruited workers, and the conditions
under which advances of wages may be made; |
(h) anything
which by this Act is to be prescribed, or as to which regulations are to be
made. |