Labor Rights in the private sector (in Gaza Strip) in light of the ministry of labor’s decision during the State of Emergency

“Labor Rights in the private sector (in Gaza Strip) in light of the ministry of labor’s decision during the State of Emergency”

 Gaza – Tuesday 30 June 2020, The Institute of Law at Birzeit University, with support from Konrad-Adenauer-Stifitung, has organized a legal encounter entitled “Labor Rights in the private sector (in Gaza Strip) in light of the ministry of labor’s decision during the State of Emergency”. The encounter took place via zoom. The main speaker was Mr. Abdullah Sharsharah, and a number of jurists have participated to the encounter.

Mr. Sharsharah exposed the reality of workers’ rights; he mentioned that 57% (59% in the West Bank and 51% in Gaza Strip) of the workers in Palestine work in unorganized sectors, also called informal employment such as domestic workers. These employees are deprived from many of their basics rights such as their entitlement to indemnities, retirement, paid leave, and medical leave.   

The private sector – and accordingly the workers – has extremely suffered from the Covid-19 pandemics and the sanitary confinement. Many enterprises and shops were forced to close and decided to terminate the contracts of many of their employees. The ministerial joint committee took several decisions since March 2020 which directly affected those employees; such as the closing of wedding halls, restaurants and coffee shops, popular markets, mosques… etc. other measures fallowed which included the closing of all educational institutions. The education sector (especially Kindergarten) was one of the main sectors affected by those decisions, followed by tourism, and services (mainly transportation, communication, and stores), those working in the construction industry also suffered a lot.

Mr. Sharsharah explained the interpretations of Article 38 of the Palestinian labor code, especially that the Palestinian case law does not include the applicability of such an article in a situation of pandemic, accordingly the door was open for several interpretations. One side saw that the termination of contracts under the current crisis should not be allowed and the decision of the lockdown differs from the administrative decision or judicial decision referred to in article 38, accordingly the labor contract shouldn’t be terminated, and if it is terminated the act of terminating the labor contract should be deemed arbitrary and illegal. Others argued that the state of emergency rendered the execution of the contract impossible.

Mr. Sahrsharah also spoked about International Human Rights Law; explaining that the International Human Rights Law guarantees the right of every individual to receive the highest level of health, and oblige states to take measures to prevent any threat to public health, and to provide medical care for those who needs it. Mr. Sahrsharah also said that International Human Rights Law allowed the restriction of some human rights during a situation of emergency, such as a public health crisis, if such restriction is deemed necessary according to scientific proof, for a limited period, while respecting human dignity, and only if those restrictions were proportionate with the severeness of the threat. In such a case, the restriction cannot be considered arbitrary or discriminatory.

In the end, the door was open for the participants to discuss the issue, ask questions, and make comments and recommendations.