Rules & Regulations to be considered by Entrepreneurs and HR Personnel

With regard to labour disputes in Myanmar, we have 2012 Labour Disputes Law, 2012 Labour Disputes Act, the Amended Labour Disputes Act 2014 and the second amendment to the Labour Disputes Act 2019.  

According to the above-mentioned laws, if labour disputes occur step by step procedures to be followed are stated exactly.

At the first step: Coordination at workplace level – a business firm of more than 30 workers can form a Workers’ Coordination Committee (WCC) comprising a representative of employer and a representative of employee to negotiate if a dispute occurs.

At the second step: Mediation at township level – if negotiation was impossible at the workplace level (first step), mediation can be done. A mediation team comprising a total of 9 members - 3 representatives of employer, 3 representatives of government officials and 3 representatives of employees are responsible to settle the disputes.

At the third step: Arbitration or decision-making at the regional level – if the disputes are 

not settled at the township level, it is further referred to the Arbitration Panel established at the regional level, at the relevant Court. The decision-making for cases filed at the Court are taken necessary actions by the judge after listening to the pleas of lawyers from both sides.

At the Arbitration Panel, the jury or the group of 15 members are involved in the decision-making process unlike at the Court where only the judge is required.

If disputes cannot be settled at the Arbitration Panel, either of the parties (the employer or the employee) can proceed to the Arbitration Council within seven days so as to obtain the decision.  

At the fourth step: Obtaining the decision at the Arbitration Council – The Arbitration Council is comprised of 15 members: 5 officials selected by the Ministry of Labour, 5 individuals by the employer and 5 representatives by the employees.  

Details explained briefly in the prescribed laws can be referred to accordingly.  

Entrepreneurs and HR Personnel can study the arbitration cases (extracts) on the website of Ministry of Immigration and Manpower so as to avoid occurrence of such cases at the workplace.  The extracts only will be mentioned without the names of the respective business firms to safeguard their reputation.