Section 2
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
of Labour Act
“agreement” means an oral engagement to work entered into in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
“apprentice” means any person of either sex who has contracted to serve an employer and to learn and be taught any business, trade manufacture, undertaking, calling or employment in which workers are employed;
“child” means a person under the age of 14 years;
“confinement” means the delivery of a child;
“contract” means a written engagement to work entered into in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
“dependant” means the wife or wives of a worker, and his children, step-children and lawfully adopted children who are unmarried and under the age of 16 years and any aged or
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incapacitated relative whom the Commissioner is satisfied is wholly dependant upon and living with the worker;
“domestic servant” means any house, stable or garden servant or car driver habitually employed in, or in connection with, the domestic services of any public or private dwelling-house, eating house, club or institution;
“employer” includes the Government of Brunei and any person or body of persons, corporate or unincorporate, and the legal personal representative of a deceased employer who or which enters into any agreement or contract with any worker and the duly authorised agent or manager of such person or body of persons and, where any person (hereinafter referred to as the principal) in the course of or for the purposes of his trade or business enters into any agreement or contract with any person
(hereinafter referred to as the contractor) for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the principal, the principal shall, in respect only of any liability for the payment of wages remaining unpaid for a period not exceeding 3 months, be held to be the employer;
“family” means the wife or wives of a worker, and his children, stepchildren and lawfully adopted children who are unmarried and under the age of 14 years;
“Health Officer” means the Director of Medical Services and includes any officer to whom, by writing under his hand, he delegates the exercise or performance of all or any of the powers or duties conferred or imposed on the Health Officer by this Act to the extent of the powers or duties so delegated;
“immigrant worker” means any worker who is normally resident outside Brunei Darussalam who has come to Brunei Darussalam for the purpose of performing work in Brunei Darussalam;
“industrial undertaking” means —
(a)
mines, quarries and other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth;
(b)
industries in which articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are
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transformed, including ship buildings, and the generation, transformation and transmission of electricity and motive power of any kind;
(c)
construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, alteration, or demolition of any building, railway, tramway, harbour, dock, pier, canal, inland waterway, road, tunnel bridge, viaduct, sewer, drain, well, telegraphic or telephonic installation, electrical undertaking, gaswork, waterworks or other work of construction, as well as the preparation for or laying the foundation of any such work or structure;
(d)
transport of passengers or goods by road or rail, or inland waterway, including the handling of goods at dock, quays, wharves, and warehouses, but excluding transport by hand:
Provided that if, having regard to the nature of the work involved in any occupation which forms part of the industrial undertaking, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan in
Council considers that such occupation should be excluded from the provisions of this Act relating to industrial occupations, he may declare, by order, that employment in such occupation shall be deemed not to be employment in an industrial undertaking for the purpose of this Act:
Provided further that any undertaking of which a part only is an industrial undertaking shall not for that reason alone be deemed to be an industrial undertaking;
“mine” includes any undertaking whether public or private for the extraction of any substance from under the surface of the earth;
“place of employment” means any place where work is carried on by or on behalf of any employer;
“rate of pay”, “rate of wages” and “wage rate” each means the total amount of money including allowances to which a worker is entitled under his contract of service for working either for a period of time stated or implied in his contract or for the performance of each completed piece or task of work, but does not include —
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(i)
additional payments in respect of overtime work;
(ii)
additional payments by way of bonus;
(iii)
allowances for travelling or food;
(iv)
such additional payments or allowances made by reason of the special nature of work performed, as the Commissioner may approve:
Provided that in the case of a worker employed on piece rates, the ordinary rate of pay shall be calculated by dividing the period of 14 days immediately preceding the day on which the rate of pay is required to be calculated by the number of days on which such worker actually worked during such period;
“recruit,” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to procure, engage, hire or supply or undertake or attempt to procure, engage, hire or supply workers for the purpose of being employed by the recruiter or by any other person, where such worker does not spontaneously offer his services at the place of employment or at a public employment office or at an office conducted by an employers’
organisation and supervised by the Government;
“repatriation” means the return of a worker to his country of domicile or origin and includes the return to his house of a worker who has been brought to a place of employment by an employer from any other place within Brunei Darussalam;
“shift worker” means a worker who is engaged in work which by reason of its nature requires to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts or any other work which the Commissioner has by notice published in the Gazette declared to be shift work for the purpose of this definition;
“ship” includes any vessel or boat of any nature whatsoever, engaged in navigation whether publicly or privately owned but does not include a ship of war;
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“wages” means all remuneration which is payable to a worker for work done in respect of his agreement or contract but does not include —
(i)
the value of any house accommodation or the supply of any food, fuel, light or water or medical attendance, or of any amenity or services excluded by general or special order of the State Secretary published in the
Gazette;
(ii)
any contribution paid by the employer on his own account to any pension fund or provident fund;
(iii)
any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession;
(iv)
any sum payable to the worker to defray special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment; or
(v)
any gratuity payable on discharge or retirement;
“woman” means a female of the age of 18 years or upwards;
“worker” means a labourer, servant in husbandry, journeyman, artificer, handicraftsman, miner or other person engaged in manual labour or in recruiting such or in supervising in person any workman in and throughout the performance of his work, who has entered into and works under an agreement or contract with an employer, and includes an immigrant worker and any person, other than clerical staff, employed in the operation or maintenance of mechanically propelled vehicles used for transport of passengers or goods for hire or for commercial purposes, but does not include an apprentice or seaman engaged on ships articles;
“worker-recruiter” means a person who, being employed as a worker, is authorised in writing by this employer to recruit, but who does not receive any remuneration or other advantage for such recruiting;
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“young person” means a person who has ceased to be a child but who is under the age of 18 years.