A Critique of Available Remedies for Industrial Disputes Arising Out of COVID-19: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The recent pandemic due to COVID-19 has affected the whole world at large. Aside from the obvious health issues arising from COVID-19, there is also another less obvious issue; unemployment. Sri Lanka initiated curfews on 20th March 2020, a week after the first confirmed patient was discovered. This was followed by almost two months of continuous curfews, with the announcement of businesses partially re-opening close to mid-May. This clearly amounts to almost two entire months that businesses in Sri Lanka were not allowed to operate, except those deemed essential commodities. This has resulted in a vast array of Industrial Disputes. A key example would be workers being laid off in many businesses, simply because there is no revenue to pay salaries. This work is a doctrinal and library research of a qualitative nature, and, shall consider the just and equitable remedying of Industrial Disputes arising out of COVID-19, as an unforeseeable circumstance. Therefore, the goals of this work are, firstly; to verify whether the ADR methods award more just and equitable reliefs rather than general courts. Secondly, to discover whether the ADR methods are the sole alternative to address the aforementioned issue. An important question to answer in this context is whether the ADR methods prescribed by the Industrial Disputes Act No. 43 of 1950, namely Labour Tribunals (“LT”), Industrial Courts (“IC”) and Arbitration continue to fulfil the aforesaid purpose arising from unforeseeable circumstances. The authors firmly believe that the yield of this work will be instrumental for responsible policy-making authorities to better discern the best legal approach to remedy labour disputes arising out of similar unforeseen circumstances in the future.

Keywords: Contract of Employment, Unforeseeable Circumstances, Industrial Disputes, COVID-19, Emergency Regulations