Human Rights in Sierra Leone - Employment Rights

Employment Rights

Workers may join unions, although are often pressured by employers not to do so, and unions may strike, but must give 21 days' notice. Collective bargaining is legal. Forced labor is illegal, but the law is not well enforced; such labor is especially widespread in diamond mining and is a traditional punishment imposed by tribal chiefs, although this practice seems to be on the decline. Labor by children under 13 is illegal, and work by older children is also limited by law, but these laws are not well enforced, and a high percentage of children are employed, especially in rural areas. Many street children are paid by adults to steal and beg, and some children are taken out of the country to work in homes. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs is supposed to monitor such activities but does not do an effective job of it.

Some children sent to cities to be schooled end up working on the street, and some children in orphanages are hired out as household workers. In rural villages, children often do arduous labor, and many children are forced to work in diamond mines. Although the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Mineral Resources are supposed to act against child labor, they do not do so effectively. There is a minimum wage, but it is low and is not enforced. Health and safety standards are not enforced either. There is no law against excessive compulsory overtime.