Labour Law 1

1. Identify the sources and historical development of Nigerian labour law
2. Explain the essential elements of a valid contract of employment
3. Distinguish between employees and independent contractors
4. Describe the rights, duties, and obligations of employers and employees
5. Discuss the legal framework governing trade unions and industrial actions

13 weeks, about 68 hours in total. Yours will differ.

1. Week 1Module 1:

   • Unit 1: History and Sources of Nigerian Labour Law · 4 hours

     Read Unit 1: History and Sources of Nigerian Labour Law. Identify the legal and extra-legal sources of Nigerian labour law. Discuss the evolution of labour law from colonial times to present.

   • Unit 2: The Contract of Employment · 4 hours

     Read Unit 2: The Contract of Employment. Define contract of employment and its essential elements. Identify the importance of a written contract of employment.

2. Week 2Module 1:

   • Unit 3: Who is an Employee? · 4 hours

     Read Unit 3: Who is an Employee?. Distinguish between contract of service and contract for service. Examine the control, integration, and multiple tests for determining employee status.

   • Unit 4: Employer and Employee Duties and Obligations · 4 hours

     Read Unit 4: Employer and Employee Duties and Obligations. Identify the implied duties of employees (obedience, cooperation, care, fidelity). Discuss the implied duties of employers (pay wages, provide work, treat with respect, ensure safety).

3. Week 3Module 2:

   • Unit 1: Formation of Contract of Employment and its Effects · 4 hours

     Read Unit 1: Formation of Contract of Employment and its Effects. Discuss the formation of employment contracts. Mention the relevant contents of a contract of employment and the effects thereof.

4. Week 4Module 2:

   • Unit 2: Freedom of Contract and Restrictions Thereon · 4 hours

     Read Unit 2: Freedom of Contract and Restrictions Thereon. Examine the right of the employee to freely discuss the terms and conditions in a contract of employment. Highlight and discuss the various factors responsible for the acceptance of these stringent conditions without freewill.

5. Week 5Module 2:

   • Unit 3: Common Law Implied Terms · 4 hours

     Read Unit 3: Common Law Implied Terms. Examine the various common laws in implied terms in a contract of service agreement. Discuss the statutory definition of who a worker is. Examine the implied terms of employment.

6. Week 6Module 3:

   • Unit 1: Employer's Vicarious Liability · 4 hours

     Read Unit 1: Employer's Vicarious Liability. Discuss vicarious liability in relation to labour law. Discuss employer's vicarious liability for the tort of his employees. Mention the situations that will naturally give rise to the vicarious liability of the employer.

7. Week 7Module 3:

   • Unit 2: Termination of Contract of Employment · 4 hours

     Read Unit 2: Termination of Contract of Employment. Discuss the Nigeria labour law as fashioned after that of the United Kingdom. Examine those various means by which employers of labour both under the common law and equity have determined the contract of employment of their employees over the years.

8. Week 8Module 3:

   • Unit 3: Remedies for Wrongful Dismissal · 4 hours

     Read Unit 3: Remedies for Wrongful Dismissal. Discuss adequate compensation in form of remedies for wrongful dismissal of a valid and subsisting contract of employment. Mention the various means by which an aggrieved and perceived wrongly dismissed employee may seek redress under the law.

9. Week 9Module 3:

   • Unit 4: Collective Bargaining · 4 hours

     Read Unit 4: Collective Bargaining. Discuss the importance of agreements in any employer/employee relationship. Discuss collective bargaining. Mention the three principal methods of regulating labour relations.

10. Week 10Module 4:

    • Unit 1: Trade Unions · 4 hours

      Read Unit 1: Trade Unions. Explain why we have trade unions as a concept in labour law in Nigeria. State the major particulars in relation to the law that provides for the formation of trade unions in Nigeria. Discuss the formation and registration of trade unions with a view to establishing their legal status.

11. Week 11Module 4:

    • Unit 2: Industrial Actions · 4 hours

      Read Unit 2: Industrial Actions. Discuss the concept of industrial action. Discuss the various means by which the employees, either by themselves or through their unions drive home their points in terms of demands from their employee. Mention the causes and effects of industrial action on the economy.

12. Week 12Module 4:

    • Unit 3: Tortuous Liability and Trade Disputes · 4 hours

      Read Unit 3: Tortuous Liability and Trade Disputes. Mention those common law torts which a trade union, its officials and members are prone to commit in the cause of an industrial action. Examine the extent of statutory protection afforded to trade unions and unionists from those torts, in the prosecution of trade dispute.

    • Unit 4: Settlement of Trade Disputes · 4 hours

      Read Unit 4: Settlement of Trade Disputes. Mention the relevant and most prevailing statute in relation to trade disputes is the Trade Disputes Act, Cap 432, LFN, 1990. Discuss the various modes or means of settlement of industrial disputes, their advantages, disadvantages and suggestions for improvement.

13. Week 13Module 4:

    • Unit 5: Protecting Health and Safety · 4 hours

      Read Unit 5: Protecting Health and Safety. Review and examine the relevance of those statutes designed to govern, order and regulate industrial activities generally. Mention these statutes which can be viewed first as instruments designed to promote the health, safety, welfare and security of the worker.

    • Unit 6: The Workmen's Compensation Act · 4 hours

      Read Unit 6: The Workmen's Compensation Act. Discuss the corpus of the Factories Act. Describe the various conditions under which an employee will be entitled to compensation from an employer.