A well-written and thoroughly researched definitive treatise on the subject

Book review

‘A General Guide to 

Sri Lanka’s Labour Law’ by Somapala Egalahewa

Reviewed by Dr. Wickrema Weerasooria

I consider it aprivilege and pleasure to review this book.My only regret is the delay in doing so. This book was launched at a very large and well attended gathering at the BMICH Colombo on 26July. The Chief Guest was the then His Lordship the Chief Justice Priyasath Dep, President’s Counsel. Also in attendance were many judges of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, Judges of the High Court,a large number of Presidents of Labour Tribunals and retired Judges.Representing the Bar, there was a significant number of President’s Counsel and lawyers practicing both in the original courts as well as in the appellate courts. 

What is remarkable about this book is not only its size (about 1,000 pages) but its coverage, contents and quality. Admittedly, although Sri Lanka has a well-established judicial and legal system and nearly 20,000 lawyers, few legal texts are published today. This is not for want of printers or publishers, but for want of competent and qualified authors. In that context Somapala Egalahewa’s‘A General Guide to Sri Lanka’s Labour Law’ is in my view a masterpiece. In recent times I have never seen any Sri Lankan text with such a wide coverage and so well written. It is indeed a magnum opus, a once and for all book of a lifetime.  

The book carries a Foreword by Justice R.K.S. Sureshchandra, a former Judge of our Supreme Court and currently a Resident Justice of Appeal and Supreme Court in Fiji. Justice Sureshchandra quite rightly says, “There is a dearth of legal literature in law in Sri Lanka and especially in the field of Labour Law which is a growing and living subject. The author’s effort in bringing out this text on Labour Law is indeed a valuable contribution.”

Displaying humility which is a significant trait among his generation, Egalahewa has named his text ‘A General Guide to Sri Lanka’s Labour Law’. I disagree. It is a definitive treatise on the subject and should be titled ‘A Treatise on Sri Lankan Labour Law’.

It is interesting to note that Somapala Egalahewa, the distinguished father of an illustrious son (Uditha Egalahewa, President’s Counsel), has told the readers how and why he came to write this book and in doing so has given his qualifications and experience of authorship. Egalahewa dedicates this book to his past students at the Sri Lanka Law College who prompted him towrite it. 

The Author states that in his long years of teaching at the Sri Lanka Law College whenever he recommended tohis students to read some named text by authors on Labour Law, they always wantedhim to name a text where all the relevant topics on the subject were covered. His students told him it was difficult to find time to read several texts. It was this lacunaor gap that made him to write this book so as to fill the gap.  Hence, as I have shown above this comprehensive and excellent book is the result of Egalahewa’s experience as a lecturer and examiner in Labour Law especially atSri Lanka Law College. As we all know he was also a leading practitioner in Labour Law in this country. Withthat experience and knowledge he has filled the need of a comprehensive and upto date treatise on Sri Lanka’s Labour Law that was missing for decades. 

Having gone through the book of nearly 1,000 pages and noticing its extensive coverage of Case Law, Statute Law and Practices, I can say without hesitation that this book will be the best authority on the subject presently available in the country.Not only Sri Lankan Law but the Author has well researched and included in the text many relevant laws from comparative jurisdictions such as India, The United Kingdom and South Africa. The author goes further by providing the related principles of the Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

Equally important, this textanalyses the salient aspects of the subject thoroughly and makes the life of the reader easier by making all the recent CaseLaw authorities available at their fingertips.Here special coverage is given to (i) Contract of Employment, (ii) Termination of Employment and (iii) Compensation for Wrongful Termination. These are some of the fundamental issues that crop up today in disputes between employers and employees which is of great practical importance. 

As a Reviewer, I would be failing in my duty if I don’t refer to some of the important Chapters contained in this text.Before I come to that I admire Egalahewa’s patience, industry, hard work and tireless effort he would have put in to write and compile this text and he would have surely breathed a sigh of relief when the book was launched in July. I say this because having written several texts myself I know the anxiety that Authors go through in meticulously preparing texts for publication. 

Now turning to the text, it consists of 18 Chapters. Naturally the 1st Chapter is on the Concept of Labour, the 2nd Chapter on the Master and Servant Concept which to a great extent was the origin of Labour Law. In Chapter 3 comes Social Justice and Industrial Law. Chapter 4 will engage the attention of practitioners because it deals with the Contract of Employment. Chapter 5 cover types of Employment such as Casual, Temporary, Fixed Term and Apprenticeship, etc. Chapter 6 deals with Probationary Employment which some Human Resource Managers have not fully grasped. 

Part 2 of the book containsChapters 7, 8 and 9. Chapter 7 (over 100 pages) comprehensively covers the Dispute Resolution Mechanism under our Industrial Dispute Act. I consider this Chapter to be essential reading for any practitioner of Labour Law. Chapter 8 refers to Collective Bargaining and Collective Agreements and gives the ILO Conventions and Chapter 9 gives a full coverage of Labour Tribunals in Sri Lanka. All Presidents of the Labour Tribunals should read this Chapter carefully.

Part 3 of the book containing Chapters 10, 11 and 12 deals with Termination of Employment and Services.Part 4 – Chapter 13 of the Text covers Unfair Labour Practices under our Industrial Disputes Act,while Chapter 14 deals with the important Statute called the Employment of Workman (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1971 (TEW). It is interesting to note that under this Act Sri Lanka does not recognise the Hire and Fire Rule. 

I was told that this Legislation was enacted by the Socialist Government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike elected to office in May 1970 with the support of the Marxist parties. The JVP Insurgency also had taken place and someemployers were taking advantage of the Insurgency to get rid of unsavoury staff. This legislation prohibited such steps. Chapter 15 to Chapter 18 (the last Chapter) deals with Workmen Compensation, Superannuation and Termination Benefits, Employee Organisations and lastly Trade Union Actions.I deliberately went into the contents of the text to show how comprehensive it is.

The Author’s choice of the topics of discussion in relation to the Industrial Disputes Act, Termination of Employment (Special Provisions) Act, Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance, the Employment Provident Fund Act, Employees Trust Fund Act, The Trade Unions Ordinance have to be commended as these are the areas which regularly come up in the operation and application of  Labour Law. 

To conclude this text would be invaluable to all those who are interested in Labour Law, such as students, trade unionists, academics, practitioners and judicial officers, human resource professionals and the general public.  All Presidents of Labour Tribunals should greatly value this text and ensure that a copy is available in each Labour Tribunal Office. The thoroughness of the work and the easily readable language in which it has been written enhances its value.

The book is hard bound and is well printed and amounts to nearly thousand pages in length and is very reasonably priced at Rs. 4,000, making it affordable.It is published by Stamford Lake Ltd., which is a company well known in the legal publication arena. The interesting book cover which depicts how the interest of the employer are counterweighed by the interest of the workmen by labour law is eye-catching. It has been designed by D.C.Karunaratne.

I warmly congratulate the Author and strongly recommend this excellent treatise for purchase which is well written and thoroughly researched.  As predicted in this review this text will soon become the most sort after text on the subject in Sri Lanka.