A Brief Introduction of Labour Laws and Regulations Labour relations in Cambodia are govemed by the Labour Law, which was adopted by the National Assembly in 1997, and other regulations adopted by Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training The Labour Law sets out provisions concerning the scope of application, the procedure for the opening of facilities that employ workers; legal rules that govern the formation, suspension, and termination of the employment Principles of Employment Contract and Working Conditions: Any rules established from unilateral decisions contracts, the collective bargaining agreement. contracts, any collective agreements, or the arbitral awards must be consistent with the rules set out in the Labour Law. Those decisions, contracts, agreements, or awards can set forth whatever employment terms and conditions as long as they do not derogate the benefits granted by the Labour Law to the workers or employees The Labour Law also sets out principles for determining items that constitute wage(for example, net wacepayment, deduction, and gamishment of wage; rules regarding the daily and weekly working hours(six hours per allowance, specs days and forty eight hours per week, six days per week), overtime and rate of overtime, night shift, paid holidays (28 days and annually fixed by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training), paid annual leaves (1.5 days per worked month), special leaves for exceptional circumstances that affect the workers' families(maximum seven days annually), provision of health staff to provide medical first aid to workers in workplace he law does not impose a minimum wage, but it will be pronounced by the Prakas(executive decree adopted by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training after consultation with the Labor Advisory Committee a tripartite body composed of the representatives from the govemment, workers' organizations, and employers organizations. At the moment, minimum wage is adopted only by the textile, garment, and shoemaking industries Employment in Agricultural Enterprises and Facilities: The Labour Law sets out special provisions for employments in agricultural works, which include works in farming enterprises, agro-businesses in plantations and animal-raising, forest exploitation, and fishing. Workers must work eight hours per day and forty eight hours per week. Workers may be required to work nine hours per day, but the total number of hours worked should not exceed forty eight hours per week. Agricultural workers, who work full time, must receive additional benefits in rice supplement for the spouse and children of up to 16. Full time workers must receive free accommodation for their family. If the employer cannot afford of its own housing. it can provide monthly accommodation allowance in lieu of housing. When a worker dies, the employer must provide some support, including a coffin, white doth transportation of the worker's body to the crematorium, and funeral expenses of not less than one month sala of the deceased worker. If the employer employs more than 100 female workers, the employer may be required to establish a day care facility for the babies and provide them with supplementary foods. In addition, if there are more than 20 young children who stay with their parent-workers, the employer, at its own expenses, must set up primary school, which is equipped with fumiture, and teaching materials, and salaries for teaching staff. Instead of setting its own school within the farming facility, the employer can send the children to a school that is situated one kilometre from its facility, but must pay for the cost of transportation of those children Body to Oversee the Working Conditions: The Labour Inspectorate is an arm of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training entrusted with duties primarily to ensure the compliance with the Labour Law and other labour-related regulations, to notify and provide technical advice to the employers and employees on the effectiv means to comply with the laws, and monitor the implementation of the laws related to the working conditions of s. In discharging its duties, the Labour Inspectorate can issue its observations to the employer and employees, order the employers and employees to comply with the laws within a set time limit, take prormeasures to stop or prevent incidents that cause serious danger to or affect the safety the employees, and ord
penalty for violations of the laws. The Labour Inspectorate deploys various stations and labour inspectors in geographical areas to carry out its mission The Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training issued a joint Prakas on the Strengthening of Inspection of Foreign Labourers in Kingdom of Cambodia(No 2703, 10 March 2016)to allow joint inspection between the two ministries of any enterprises employing foreign workers. The inspection can be conducted with or without advance notification. The joint inspectors will look into a set of documents, especially the passports of foreign workers, entry visas and their extension, work permits and books, quota of foreign workers authorized by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, employment contracts that have been registered with the Ministry or provincial Department of Labour and Vocational Training
B Requirements of Employing Foreign Employees
Work Permit ser a oreign workers are allowed to work in Cambodia. But, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training must the proportion(quota) of foreign workers in relation to Cambodian workers. According to Article 261 of the abour Law, foreign workers must have work permits and books to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. The work permit is valid for one year and may be extended as long as the permitted durationof stay in Cambodia According to the Prakas (executive decree)on the Employment of Foreign Labour No. 196(dated 20 August 014)of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, foreign workers can be hired only when Cambodian rkers are not available for the needs of the enterprise. Those foreign workers must have expertise, technical or professional qualifications that Cambodian workers don 't The owner of an enterprise who wishes to employ such foreign workers must request a prior authorization from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. The number of foreign workers employed cannot exceed 10% of the total Cambodian workers in the enterprise, Of
needs to provide detailed justifications for such needs to the Ministry
b Application Procedure The enterprise must submit the request to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training in November every year in order to obtain an authorization to employ foreign workers in the next year. The request must disaggregate the number the Cambodian workers and the number of foreign workers to be employed in the next year. The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training issued a Prakas on the Work Permit and Work Book for Foreigners No. 195, dated 20 August 2014 to set out rules for the application for work permits and work books. The enterprise that employs foreign workers must request for the work permits and books for its workers by submitting an application affixed by a fiscal stamp, four photos of the worker (3 cm x 4 cm), a table showing the current number of Cambodian workers and foreign workers being employed, a copy of the worker's passport, annual duty and service fee of $100 for each worker, a copy of employment contract of the worker, and a letter of certificatio from the worker's country of origin that that he or she has physical fitness for his or her job (issued within the last soc month). The worker who has entered Cambodia without such letter of certification can apply and obtain it from the Department of Labour Health of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training or. For the extension of work permit and book, the enterprise must submit the application to extend the duration work permit and book and the same documents and duty and service fee as above Now, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training issued a Prakas on the Use of Online Data Management System of Foreign Labor (No. 342, 17 August 2016) to require the employer to submit online request for quota of ign workers to be employed in its enterprise and for work permits and books, which is effective 1 September 2016.Applicantcanapplythroughtheaddresshttps:/fwcms.mlvt.gov.kh/ The employment contracts of all foreign workers must be registered with the Department of Occupation and Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (for those workers working in Phnom Penh)and with the provincial Department of Labour and Vocational Training (for those workers working in the provinces)
c Social Insurance
on sie L aw on Social Security Regime for Those Persons Subject to the Provisions of the Labour Law (Lawdisability, and death: work accident fund, and other funds. The Law on Social Security is applicable to workers and employees in any pu i-public, private, or religious enterprises/establishments, including in industrial mining, commercial, handicraft, services, agricultural, land and water transportation sectors At the moment, the social security funds for work accident and health care were created. Under the Prakas
No 108, dated 16 June 2008). the employers are required on make contributions to the Social Security Fund for eir workers (workers are not required to contribute). The amount of contribution per employee or worker is 0.8% of the median of wage range of the list fixed by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational training. For example, for a worker whose salary is within the range of 200,, 000 ne/s(the median is 225.000)the contribution must beUnder the Sub-Decree on the Creation of Social Security Fund for Health Care for Those Persons Subject to the Provisions of the Labour Law (Sub-Decree No. 1, dated 6 January 2016), the employers and employees/ workers are required to contribute to the Social Security Fund for Health Care. The amount of contribution from the employee/worker must not exceed that of the empl and es for the Payment of Contribution for Health Care(Prakas No, 220, 13 June 2016) requires that the employees or workers contribute 1.3% of the median salary of the range. The employers are also requlred to pay a counterpart contnbution of the same 1.3%. For example, if an employee's salary is within the range of 00, 001-650.000 riels, his or her contribution would be 1. 3%of the median salary of 525,000 riels, which is 8125
C. Exit and Entry
a Visa Types
The entry/lexit and temporary stay in Cambodia are governed by the Sub-decree on the Procedure for the Authorzation for the Non-Immigrant Foreign Persons to Enter, Exit, and Temporary Stay in Kingdom of Cambodia (No. 123, dated 10 June 2016). According this Sub-decree, there are 10 types of visas. They are diplomatic visa (type A), official visa for state officials or intemational organizations' officials ha mission to Cambodia(type B). courtesy visa (type C), transit visa(type D), ordinary visa(type E) for one entry, long-term ordinary visa (types E1, E2, and E3) for businesspersons for multiple entries, special visa (type K) for people of Cambodian ongin and holding foreign passports, ACMECS visa (typo KHM) for tourists travelling to and within Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya ekong Economic Cooperation Strategy countries, tourist visa (type T) tourists travelling to Cambodia for one entry, and long-term tourist visa(types T1, T2, and T3) for multiple entry tourists. Visas that are most suitable for businesspersons are multiple entry visa types E1, E2, and E3. The validity of visa type E1 is one year, 2 years for E2, and 3 years for E3. People who hold these visas can stay in Cambodia for a length of one month. The extended visas bear the codes respectively E1EX. E2EX, and E2EX
An employee, businessperson, staff, workers, or other professionals who wish to extend their stay in Cambodia must apply for EB visa. Those who wish to extend their stay for business exploration: as retirees students, technical experts: businesspersons receiving visas E1. E2, and E3, and tourists must apply for extension visas EP, ER: ES: ET: ElEX. E2EX, and E3EX: TEX, respectively. The visas EB, EP ER, and ES, can be extended for one month, three months, six months, or 12 months depending on the amount of visa duties. The ET visa (technical experts)can be extended to 24 months and then extended three times of 12 months each.and then the concerned person must leave the country. The ElEX. E2EX. and E2EX can be extended for one, three six, or 12 months: The TEX can be extended only for one month.
In the application for the extension of visas EB, the applicant must submit the business authorization andPatent tax certificate or employment contract or any documents showing the necessity for the extension of durationof stay. The EP applicant must submit document showing purpose of extended stay. ET applicant certificate of registration of the company or enterprise, employment contract, and documents showing family members, if it isaccompanied by those members
The extension of visas or temporary stay in Cambodia may be revoked by the Minister of Interior or Minister ofnational security, obtain visas by fraud or forged, violate laws or regulations of Cambodia, or have been sentencedfor misdemeanour or felony offenses
Application for an entry visa: A non-immigrant entry visa can be applied directly with a Cambodian EmbassyConsulate in a foreign country or at the port of entry in Cambodia filling an application form, presenting the passport(valid until the next six months). a photo(4 cm x 6 cm), and visa processing fee. Entry visa applicationcan be done online too by accessing to the website address of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IntemationalCooperationhttps://www.evisa.gov.kh/.
the applicant must supply a letter of certification of loss by competent authorities. For those who were convicted and imprisoned, they must present a letter of release from prison too.
b Restrictions for Exit and Entry According to Article 23 of the Sub-Decree No, 123, the following foreigners are restricted from entenng
Having invalid passport or travel document Having no entry visa, except there is mutual agreement between the applicant's country and Cambodia for visa waiver.
Being mentally ill Having been banned on the list of the Ministry of Interior. Carrying certain diseases announced by the Cambodian government. Being involved in crimes perpetrated outside Cambodia laving no clear travel background
aving no clear purpose of travel
laving no means to support him/herself and family and having no one else to support,
No exit visa gners from exiting the country.
Being prosecuted/litigated in criminal case or civil case: Escaping sentence or legal responsibility. Having forged, scrubbed, erased, overwritten, or added data onto the travel documents or related papers Failing to pay fine for the overstay penalty, except for exemptions from the Minister of Interior. he Ministry of Interior reasonably believes that by leaving Cambodia the person or persons would prejudicethe public interest or Cambodian people
D Trade Union and Labour Organizations
Under the Labor Law, employees and workers are free to organize themselves into a union for the purpose of omoting their interests and protecting their rights. Workers are free to not join any union too. In order to receivesuch legal protection, the trade union must be registered with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational TrainingThe Law on Trade Union was just passed in May 2016 to provide for the legal framework for the establishmentand operation of the workers' trade union and employers' association, rights and duties of the union andassociation. According to Article 10 of the Law, at least 10 employees or workers can organize a local union (at theal enterprise facility/factory or establishment). At the local level, there can be several, different unions. Localegistered unions can form a federation of trade unions, but the federation must have at least seven members. Atleast five registered federations can form a confederation or a coalition of federations.
The employers can organize themselves into an employer's association. Under the Law on Trad nine enterprises or establishments can form an employers association and at least six registered employer's association can form an employers' federation
conduct any union's and association's activities if it is not registered or if its registration has been delayed orcancelled (Article 14) The Law on Trade Union also provides for legal framework for collective bargaining between unions a the employers. The collective bargaining is conducted between the employer of an enterprise facility and the st representative when it meets the following union is dulyregistered, has platform and activities that indicate that such union is able to deliver professional, cultural, and educational services to its members, has members at least 30% of all workers in the enterprise facility (if in that
If any of the unions in a given enterprise facility cannot achieve the most representative status as indicatedemployers and several unions(Article 72). But, those unions must form a council of negotiation. the members of which must receive authorization from their respective union. The duration of the collective bargaining agreement can be limited or unlimited. It the duration is limited by the agreement, that duration must be at least three years, renewable for another three years if there no request for termination by a party. If the duration is unlimited by the agreement, that duration will last until a complaint to terminate the agreement is filed. In this case, the agreement shall survive for another year from the date of the
Labour Disputes
Labour disputes are of two categories: individual disputes and collective disputes. Individual disputes are nose between an individual worker or workers and the employer of the employment contracts, provisions of the collective bargaining agreement or any laws. Collective disputes are those between a number of workers and the employer or employers concerning the working conditions, the sod me rocedure for the resolution of individual dispute differs from that of the collective dispute. In an individua hts of the workers' and employers'organizations, matters of relations between the employer(s) and workers that
province or municipality (for example, Phnom Penh)in which the enterprise is situated. If the labour inspection cannot find a resolution to the dispute, then a party can bring the dispute to the court. At the moment, the labour court has not been established so the provincial court of first instance(court of general jurisdiction) has jurisdiction ove
The collective bargaining agreement can establish procedures for dispute resolution, Absent this agreement a party must submit the dispute to the labour inspector of the province or municipality for conciliation. If the parties do not submit the dispute to the labour inspector for resolution, but the inspector is aware of it, then he can take his or her own initiative to conciliate the dispute
If the conciliation by labour inspector fails, then the inspector by operation of law must submit the dispute to the Arbitration Council for resolution. The Arbitration Council is a body formed by a pool of arbitrators chosenby the workers' organizations, employers' organization, and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.The pool is formed by the arbitrators on the workers' organizations' list, employers' organizations' list, and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Trainings list. The dispute is heard by a panel of three arbitrators-one chosen by the workers organization, one by the employer, and the last one, which must be from the Ministry's list, by the previous two arbitrators
The arbitration award must be rendered within 15 days from the date of receipt of the case. But, in practice. bye agreement of both parties, the award issuance can be extended to the agreed upon date. The award is bindingon the parties only if before the hearing they choose to be so or if after eight calendar days of the date of issuance of award, a party or parties does not object to the award. A party is not required to give the reason for objection The Arbitration Council can also mediate the disputes if the parties agree to have mediation
If the parties object to the arbitration award, the next venue that they can seek dispute resolution is filing thecase in the court of first instance
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