Special Contracts in Labor Law: Key Types & Regulations
Unit IV – Special Contracts
Learning Contract
An apprenticeship contract obligates an apprentice to serve an employer. In return, the employer (or another designated person) must practically teach the apprentice a profession, trade, or occupation for a specific time. The apprentice receives a salary. The apprenticeship contract must be in writing; otherwise, services are deemed covered by standard employment contract rules. The contract must be in triplicate.
Apprentice Obligations:
- a) Personally and carefully perform the agreed-upon work, within the limits of the orders, instructions, and teachings of the master or employer.
- b) Be loyal and show respect to the employer or teacher, their families, employees, and customers of the establishment.
- c) Observe good manners and maintain confidentiality regarding the privacy of the employer or teacher and their relatives.
- d) Take care of the materials and tools provided by the employer.
- e) Strive for the greatest economy for the employer or teacher in the performance of the work.
Women’s Work
Women have the same employment rights and obligations as men. The arrangements in this section aim to protect fundamental maternity rights. When there is a danger to the health of the woman or child (during gestation or breastfeeding), she cannot perform unhealthy or dangerous work. This includes night work in industry, commercial establishments, or services after ten o’clock at night, and overtime work.
Dangerous or unhealthy work, by its nature, the physical, chemical, and biological environment, or the composition of raw materials, can affect the life and physical and mental health of the woman or her child.
Every worker is entitled to suspend work, provided they have a medical certificate issued or endorsed by the Institute of Social Welfare or the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. Breastfeeding working mothers have two special breaks per day, half an hour each, to nurse their children. These breaks are considered periods of employment with pay.
Work at Home
Home work is any work performed for others, for wages or piece work, in a family shop, the worker’s home, or another place chosen by the worker, without the immediate supervision or direction of the employer or their representative.
Domestic Workers
Domestic workers are persons of either sex who regularly perform cleaning, care, and other services inside a house or other place of residence or private room.
Domestic workers include:
- a) Family service drivers
- b) Housekeepers
- c) Maids
- d) Washers and/or ironers in private homes
- e) Babysitters
- f) Cooks for the family home and their assistants
- g) Gardeners and helpers in a dependent relationship
- h) Caregivers of the sick, elderly, or disabled
- i) Messengers
- j) Domestic home workers for various activities
Working Hours and Holidays:
- One way: up to twelve hours daily.
- For those without removal: at least ten hours of sleep and two hours for meals.
- Annual paid holidays, like all workers.
Rural Labor
Rural workers are people of both sexes who perform regular jobs on a farm, livestock operation, forestry operation, dairy farm, or similar, and their respective employers.
Rural workers also include:
a) Artisans who work permanently in field establishments, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, bricklayers, painters, and those performing related tasks.
Work in Ground Motor Transport Companies
This covers the working relationships of all persons of either sex performing the usual work for a motor transport company dedicated to land transport (short, medium, and long-distance), regardless of their activity (municipal, state, national, or international).