2. Interpretation
In this Act—
“Advisory Council” means the Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health established under section 184;
“AIDS” means Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes;
“air receiver” includes—
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(a) any vessel, other than a pipe or coil, or an accessory, fitting or part of a compressor, for containing compressed air and connected with an air compressing plant;
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(b) any fixed vessel for containing compressed air or compressed exhaust gases and used for the purpose of starting an internal combustion engine;
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(c) any fixed or portable vessel, not being part of a spraying pistol, used for the purpose of spraying by means of compressed air, any paint, varnish, lacquer or similar material; or
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(d) any vessel in which liquid is stored and from which it is forced by compressed air;
“authorized officer” means—
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(a) in the case of Part 4 the Chief Occupational Safety and Health Officer or an occupational safety and health officer;
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(b) in the case of work permits, a labour officer; or
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(c) in any other case, any officer authorized by the Minister under this Act;
“bargaining agent” means a trade union which acts on behalf of employees;
“bargaining unit” means a group or category of employees on whose behalf collective bargaining may take place;
“biological agent” includes bacteria, viruses, fungi, rickettsia, chlamydia and other parasites;
“bodily injury” includes injury to health;
“business” includes any trade, undertaking, establishment or profession, including any activity carried on by a body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporated, involving the employment of workers or employees;
“certified trade union” means a trade union certified as a bargaining agent for a bargaining unit under Division 2 of Part 7;
“Chairperson” means—
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(a) in the case of the Commission, the Chairperson of the Commission appointed under section 69; or
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(b) in the case of the Tribunal, the Chairperson of the Tribunal appointed under section 425;
“chemical” means a chemical element or compound, or a mixture, whether natural or synthetic;
“Chief Fire Officer” means the person appointed by the Governor General to be the Chief Fire Officer; (Amended by Act 6 of 2011)
“Chief Medical Officer” means the person appointed by the Governor General to be the Chief Medical Officer; (Amended by Act 6 of 2011)
“child” means a person aged 15 years and under;
“collective agreement” means a written agreement between an employer, or an employers' organization authorized by the employer, and a trade union, concerning terms and conditions of employment, or any other matter of mutual interest;
“Commission” means the Minimum and Equal Wages Commission established under section 69;
“committee” means a joint workplace safety and health committee established under section 192;
“common law spouse” means a person of the opposite sex to the first-mentioned person who lives with the first-mentioned person as a husband or wife of that person, as the case may be, for a period of at least 3 years although not legally married to that person;
“competent person” means a person possessing qualifications, skills or experience necessary for some purpose under this Act;
“construction” includes—
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(a) building, structural alteration, renovation, repair, maintenance, including cleaning and painting and demolition of all types of buildings or structures;
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(b) civil engineering, including excavation and the construction, structural alteration, repair, maintenance and demolition of, such structures as airports, docks, harbours, inland waterways, dams, rivers and avalanches and sea defence works, roads and highways, railways, bridges, tunnels, viaducts and works related to the provision of services such as communications, drainage, sewerage, water and energy supplies;
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(c) the erection and dismantling of buildings and structures, as well as the manufacture of prefabricated structures on the construction site;
“construction site” includes any site at which any of the processes or operations relating to “construction” are carried on;
“contract worker” means a person who performs work for another person under a contract between the employer of the first-mentioned person and that other person;
“contract of employment” means a contract of service or apprenticeship whether it is expressed or implied and, if it is expressed, whether it is oral or in writing;
“Correctional Service” means the Correctional Service established under the Correctional Service Act;
“critical substance” means a chemical agent, physical agent or biological agent, or combination prescribed as a critical substance to which the exposure of an employee is prohibited, regulated, restricted, limited or controlled;
“Department of Labour” means the Department of Government responsible for labour matters and referred to in section 400;
“dependent contractor” means a person, whether or not employed under a contract of employment, who performs work or services for another person for compensation or reward on such terms and conditions that he or she is in a position of economic dependence in relation to that person, and under an obligation to perform duties for that person more closely resembling the relationship of employee than that of an independent contractor;
“Deputy Chairperson” means—
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(a) in the case of the Commission, the Deputy Chairperson selected under section 69; or
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(b) in the case of the Tribunal, the Deputy Chairperson of the Tribunal appointed under section 425;
“domestic worker” means a person employed for a wage in and about a private dwelling house;
“driving belt” includes any driving strap, rope or chain;
“employee” means a person who offers his or her services under a contract of employment, whether written, oral or implied, including a managerial employee, a dependent contractor, an apprentice, a part-time employee, a casual worker, a homeworker, a temporary worker, a seasonal employee and a person who is remunerated by commission where that person is not an independent contractor and where appropriate, a former employee;
“employer” means any person or undertaking, firm, corporation, company, public authority or body of persons who or which employs any person under a contract of employment or uses the services of a dependent contractor, commission agent or a contract worker; and the heirs, successors, agents and assigns of an employer, including any statutory person or body of persons;
“employers' organization” means any organization established by employers, the principal purposes of which are the representation and promotion of the interests of employers and the regulation of relations between employers and employees;
“employment” includes—
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(a) part time, temporary employment and performance of work under apprenticeship;
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(b) performance of work under a contract of employment;
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(c) engagement as a commission agent;
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(d) engagement as a dependent contractor,
and “employed” shall be construed accordingly;
“employment agent” means any person who, whether for payment or not, assists persons in finding employment or assists employers in finding employees;
“essential service” means any service declared to be an essential service under section 397 and listed in Schedule 8;
“existing industrial establishment” means any industrial establishment which is in operation on the date on which this Act comes into operation;
“factory” means any premises where or within the close or adjacent areas or precincts of which, steam, electric, water or other mechanical or energy source is used in aid of any industrial or manufacturing process carried on therein;
“family member of an employee” includes the spouse, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, son, daughter, brother, sister, and any person who is wholly or mainly maintained by the employee;
“family member of an employer” includes the spouse, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, son, daughter, brother, sister, who resides with the employer, and any person who is wholly or mainly maintained by the employer;
“fire officer” means a member of the Fire Service not below the rank of Station Officer;
“Fire Service” means the Fire Service established under the Fire Service Act;
“fume” includes gas, vapour or smoke;
“functions” includes powers, authorities and duties;
“hazardous biological agent” means any biological agent at an excessive level for which relevant information exists to indicate that the biological agent at this level is hazardous;
“hazardous chemical” means any chemical—
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(a) classified as hazardous by the Bureau of Standards; or
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(b) which has been classified as hazardous in accordance with Article 6 of the International Labour Organization Chemicals Convention, 1990 (No. 170), the text of which is set out in Schedule 9; or
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(c) for which relevant information exists to indicate that the chemical is hazardous;
“hazardous physical agent” means any physical agent at an excessive level for which relevant information exists to indicate that the physical agent at this level is hazardous;
“hazardous substances” includes a substance or group of substances which by virtue of chemical, physical or toxicological properties, either singly or in combination, is hazardous to the safety or health of persons exposed to it;
“HIV” means Human Immune-deficiency Virus;
“homework” means the doing of any work, including the provision of services or the manufacture, preparation, improvement, repair, alteration, assembly or completion of any article or any part by an employee for wages in his or her own home or premises of his or her choice, other than the workplace of the employer and “homeworker” shall be construed accordingly;
“independent contractor” means a contractor who is not a dependent contractor;
“industrial action” means any strike and lock-out and any action, including work to rule, picketing, sympathy strike and secondary boycott, whether or not done in contemplation of, or in furtherance of a trade dispute by an employer or a trade union or other organization or by any number of employees or other persons to compel any employee, trade union or other organization, employer or any other person, as the case may be, to agree to terms of employment, or to comply with demands made by the employer or the trade union or other organization or by those employees or other persons and includes action, whether or not in an essential service, commonly known as a “sit-down strike”, “go slow”, and “sick-out” or other action to prevent, hinder, interfere with or reduce the maintenance of an essential service or production of goods or provision of other services;
“industrial establishment”—
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(a) includes a factory, shop, office, workplace, place of business or undertaking carried on for gain and any building or other structure or premises appertaining thereto;
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(b) does not include premises occupied for residential purposes only;
“Labour Commissioner” means a person appointed to the office of Labour Commissioner by the Governor General; (Amended by Act 6 of 2011)
“lawful trade union activity” means any activity carried out by a trade union which is not expressly or implicitly prohibited under this Act or any other law in force in Saint Lucia;
“lock-out” means the closing of a workplace, or the suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him or her in consequence of a trade dispute, with a view to compelling persons, or to aid another employer in compelling persons employed by him or her, to accept terms or conditions of or affecting employment;
“machinery” includes—
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(a) stationary or portable boilers in an industrial establishment;
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(b) steam or other engines in an industrial establishment;
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(c) all apparatus or appliances for generating, developing, receiving or transforming, or for measuring or leasing the volume, voltage, pressure or frequency of, or for distributing or applying any mechanical, electric or natural power to any industrial or manufacturing process in an industrial establishment;
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(d) furnaces and fuel or storage tanks situate within, opening into or attached to the structure of, or directly connected with, any industrial establishment;
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(e) tractors, road rollers or other type of road locomotive;
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(f) marine boilers, steam receivers and air receivers on any ship or vessel which is not a foreign ship;
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(g) vats, tanks, cooling or drying devices used for the storage of, or otherwise in connection with, the product of any mechanical process, and situated within or attached to the premises within which such process is carried on;
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(h) any plant or apparatus used to generate, purify, mix, heat, or cool any fume, gas or vapour; and
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(i) any driving belt;
“maintained” for the purposes of Part 4 means maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair;
“major hazard installation” means an installation which produces, processes, handles, uses, disposes of or stores, either permanently or temporarily, one or more hazardous substances or categories of substances in quantities which exceed the threshold quantity as prescribed;
“managerial employee” means an employee who—
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(a) has authority, in the interest of the employer, to employ, dismiss, suspend, lay-off, recall, transfer, reward or discipline other employees or to deal with their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action when the exercise of such authority is not merely of a routine or clerical nature but requires independent judgement; or
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(b) is involved in management meetings where budget issues, cut-backs including lay-offs, reports, negotiations and management issues are discussed;
“manual labour” includes work ordinarily performed by mechanics, artisans, handicraftsmen, seamen, boatmen, transport workers, domestic workers and all labourers and any other similar work associated with such work, but does not include clerical work;
“marital status” means the status or condition of being—
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(a) single;
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(b) married;
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(c) married but living separately and apart from one's spouse;
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(d) divorced;
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(e) the common law spouse of another person;
“medical committee” means the medical committee established under section 428;
“medical inspector” means any registered medical practitioner who is designated as a medical inspector under section 186;
“medical practitioner” has the meaning assigned to it under the Medical Registration Act;
“mine” means any surface or underground site where any of the following activities, take place—
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(a) exploration of mineral resources that involves the mechanical disturbance of the ground;
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(b) the extraction of mineral resources;
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(c) preparation, including crushing, grinding, concentration or washing of the extracted material;
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(d) any machinery, equipment, appliance, plant, building, or civil engineering structure used in conjunction with any activity referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c);
“Minimum Wage Order” means a Minimum Wage Order published under Division 5 of Part 3;
“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Labour;
“National Insurance Board” means the National Insurance Board established under section 5 of the National Insurance Corporation Act;
“National Insurance Corporation Act” means the National Insurance Corporation Act;
“national service” means a service performed or to be performed by a person selected by the Governor General, Prime Minster, any other Government Minister or a Permanent Secretary to represent Saint Lucia in any capacity either locally or abroad;
“new industrial establishment” means an industrial establishment which first begins to operate at some time after the date on which this Act comes into operation;
“night work” means any work, including overtime work, performed between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.;
“occupational disease” means a disease prescribed to be an occupational disease under the regulations made under section 251;
“occupier” in relation to an industrial establishment means the person who controls an industrial establishment and the work that is done there;
“organization” means an organization representative of employers or of employees as the case may be;
“owner” means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises used as an industrial establishment, whether on his or her own account or as agent, trustee, receiver, mortgagee for any other person, or who would so receive the rent if the premises were let at a rent;
“pay day” means the pay day fixed for each employee under section 44;
“pay periods” means regular intervals for payment of employees referred to in section 43;
“picketing” means acting on a person's own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or an individual employee in contemplation or in the furtherance of a trade dispute, or to attend at or near a place where a person works or carries on business merely for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating information, related to working conditions or labour relations generally or of peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working whether or not signs are carried or posted and whether or not literature is being distributed;
“person employed” includes a person employed by the Government;
“person” includes a body corporate or an unincorporated body;
“physical agent” includes electromagnetic radiation, ionizing radiation, noise, vibration, heat, cold, humidity and pressure;
“police officer” means a member of the Police;
“Police” means the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force established under the Police Act;
“power” means electrical energy and any other form of energy which is mechanically transmitted and is not generated by human or animal energy;
“prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations;
“principal” means—
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(a) in relation to a commission agent, a person for whom work is done by that commission agent;
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(b) in relation to a contract worker, a person for whom a contract worker performs work otherwise than under a contract of employment;
“probationary period” means a period that may be designated as such during the 12 weeks following the date on which the employment of an employee by an employer commences, or such shorter or longer period of time following that date as may be agreed upon between that employer and employee;
“protective services” includes the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Port Police, the Fire Service and the Correctional Services;
“public duty” means a duty performed or to be performed by a person appointed by the Governor General, Prime Minister or any other Government Minister, Official, agent or agency in any capacity for a public purpose;
“recruit” means to procure, engage, hire, supply or undertake or attempt to procure, engage, hire or supply workers for the purpose of being employed by any person, enterprise or organization, so long as the worker does not spontaneously offer his or her services at the workplace;
“redundancy pay” means pay on grounds of a job being redundant;
“Registrar” means the Registrar of Trade Unions and Employers' Organizations appointed under section 334;
“regulations” means regulations made under this Act;
“remuneration” includes where applicable—
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(a) wages in respect of labour performed or services rendered on scheduled work days and public holidays;
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(b) cash value of any board or lodging provided by the employer;
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(c) overtime payments;
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(d) commissions;
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(e) service charge;
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(f) bonuses;
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(g) allowances of any kind;
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(h) ex-gratia awards or superannuation;
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(i) retirement benefits;
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(j) termination benefits;
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(k) notice pay;
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(l) severance pay;
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(m) holiday pay;
“renewal” includes extension, and any reference to renewing a contract for a fixed term shall be construed accordingly;
“safety and health representative” means a safety and health representative selected under section 190;
“sanitary conveniences” includes urinals, water closets, or closets, privies and any similar conveniences;
“seasonal employee” means an employee engaged in an occupation or industry in which it is customary to employ some employees only at certain periods of the year or an employee employed in an industry that is designated a seasonal industry by the Minister;
“serious family responsibility” means responsibility in respect of a dependent family member that is urgent and serious and which is unavoidable in the circumstances;
“severance pay” means pay which is attributable to length of service on termination;
“sexual harassment” means any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature in the workplace or in connection with the performance of work which is threatened or imposed as a condition of employment on the employee or which creates a hostile working environment for the employee;
“ship”, “vessel” and “harbour” have the same meanings as are respectively assigned to them in any law relating to shipping;
“shop” means a building, booth or stall or a part of such building, booth or stall where goods are handled, exposed or offered for sale or where services are offered for sale;
“Statutory Minimum Wage” means the minimum wage set in a Minimum Wage Order;
“strike” means the cessation of work by a body of persons employed, acting in combination, or a concerted refusal or a refusal under a common understanding of any number of persons employed, to continue to perform work for an employer in consequence of a dispute, as a means of compelling their employer or any person or body of persons employed or to aid other employees in compelling their employer or any person or body of persons employed to accept or not accept terms or conditions of or affecting employment, but does not include action commonly known as a “sit-down strike” “go-slow”, “work-to-rule” or “sickout”;
“supervisor” means a person who has charge of a workplace or section of a workplace or who has authority over an employee;
“technical examiner” means a person who is designated as such under section 189;
“termination benefits” include redundancy pay, severance pay, compensation for unfair dismissal and other payments due to an employee upon termination of his or her employment;
“threshold quantity” means for a given hazardous substance or category of substances that quantity, as prescribed, which if exceeded identifies a major hazard installation;
“ticket” means a ticket served under section 466;
“ticketable offence” means a summary offence prescribed to be a ticketable offence under section 466;
“trade dispute” means any dispute between an employer and an employee of that employer or trade union on behalf of such employees, connected with the dismissal, employment, suspension from employment, re-employment or reengagement of any such employees, including a dispute as to the terms of the employment of or the conditions of labour of any employees;
“trade union” means any combination of persons, whether temporary or permanent, the principal purposes of which are the representation and promotion of workers' interests and the regulation of relations between employees and employers, or a federation of trade unions, but does not include an organization or association that is dominated or influenced by an employer or an employers' organization;
“Tribunal” means the Labour Tribunal established under section 424;
“wages” means all payments including allowances payable to an employee in respect of work done or to be done under his or her contract of employment or contract of service, advances or loans but does not include—
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(a) the value of any board or lodging, supply of light, water, medical attention or other amenities supplied at the sole expense of the employer;
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(b) overtime payments;
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(c) commissions;
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(d) service charge;
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(e) bonuses;
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(f) allowances of any kind;
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(g) ex-gratia awards or superannuation;
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(h) retirement benefits;
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(i) termination benefits;
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(j) notice pay;
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(k) severance pay;
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(l) holiday pay;
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(m) any contribution paid by the employer on his or her own account to any pension or provident fund or scheme;
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(n) any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession;
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(o) any sum paid to the employee to defray special expenses incurred by him or her by the nature of his or her employment; or
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(p) any gratuity payable on discharge or retirement from the service of the employer;
“woman” means a female person who has attained the age of 18 years or more;
“work related disease” means a condition that results from exposure of an employee in a workplace to a chemical, physical agent, or biological agent to the extent that the normal psychological or physiological mechanisms of such employee is affected and his or her health is impaired thereby;
“work permit” means a permit in writing issued under this Act by the Minister authorizing a person to engage in an occupation;
“workplace” means any industrial establishment or place or premises where a worker needs to be or go by reason of his or her work and which is under the direct or indirect control of the employer;
“young person” means a person who is over the age of 15 years but who has not attained the age of 18 years.