BAHAMAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Judith Whitehead KC, Michaela Sumner-Budhi, Sean McWeeney Jr., Charisma Romer-Cartwright and Hubert Edwards, GrahamThompson
4. Employment Law 4.1 Nature of Applicable Regulations
cause varies depending upon the employee’s tenure of service with the employer. Generally, when terminating the employee without cause, the employer is required to give the employee reasonable notice of the termination. The Employment Act establishes the minimum notice requirements and provides the employer with the power to elect whether to give notice or to give a payment in lieu of such notice. For example, an employee who has been employed at least six months but less than 12 months is entitled to one week’s notice or pay in lieu thereof, and an employee who was employed for 12 months or more is entitled to two weeks’ notice or pay in lieu thereof if such employee does not hold a managerial or supervisorial position, or one month’s notice or pay in lieu thereof if such employee does hold such a position. In addition to this notice period (or payment in lieu thereof), the Employment Act places an obligation on the part of the employer to pay to the employee a sum representing the product of the dismissed employee’s bi-weekly or monthly salary (depending on their role) and the number of years of such employee’s service. This additional sum is usually referred to as “sever - ance pay”. Severance pay acknowledges the dis - missed employee’s years of service and is capped at six years for a non-managerial/non-supervisorial employee and 12 years for a managerial/superviso - rial employee. It is significant to note that the Employment Act does not confer an obligation on the part of the employer to give notice to an employee of less than six months′ tenure. Notice of termination can be given verbally. However, the employer must ensure that the notice of termina - tion was properly and unequivocally communicated to the employee and that they exercised their com - plete obligations upon termination. Thus, the parties’ conduct immediately after termination has been made orally may be evidence of the nature of the notice given.
Employment relationships are governed principally by the implied and expressed terms of the employment relationship. In The Bahamas, these terms (where applicable) may be gleaned from the following sourc - es: • the employment contract; • industrial agreements; • common law (case law); • the Employment Act and the Employment (Amend - ment) Act; • the Health and Safety at Work Act; • the Minimum Wages Act; and • relevant provisions of the following pieces of legis - lation: (a) the Industrial Relations Act; and (b) the National Insurance Act. In particular, where an employment relationship has been created by oral agreement, the terms of the employment relationship are espoused principally from English common law (as applicable), local com - mon law, and local statute (in particular, the Employ - ment Act and the Employment (Amendment) Act). The privileges associated with the freedom to con - tract exist in The Bahamas. This freedom, however, is subject to the relatively inalienable rights of the par - ties created under the Employment Act. These basic rights represent and dictate the minimum standard of behaviour and expectations between an employer and employee. 4.2 Characteristics of Employment Contracts The termination of employment relations is governed by Sections 26 to 28E of Part VI (redundancy, lay-offs, and short-time) of the Employment Act as amended, Sections 29 and 30 of Part VII (termination of employ - ment with notice), Sections 31 to 32 of Part VIII (sum - mary dismissal) and Sections 34 to 48 of Part X (unfair dismissal) of the Employment Act. Although there are no minimum requirements for the duration of an employment relationship, the employ - er’s duty upon the termination of a contract without
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