18. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –

“Commissioner-General” means the Commissioner-General of Labour and includes any Additional

Commissioner-General of

Labour,

Commissioner of Labour, Deputy Commissioner of Labour, an Assistant Commissioner of Labour or any Labour Officer;

“employer” means any person who employs any worker or causes to be employed any worker on behalf of any other person and includes a body of employers whether such body is a firm, company, corporation, trade union or a body unincorporated, but does not include the state or Government or any such other person or such body which are excluded from any provision or any regulation made under the provisions of this

Act;

“employment of casual nature” means an employment of a worker not in excess of hundred and eighty days in any one calendar year;

”fixed term employment” means a written contract of employment for a fixed term of time, specified in days, months or years between an employer and a worker and includes a consecutive fixed term contract entered into with the same individual where such contract is specifically linked to the performance of a particular task or project and the employer retains the services of such worker after the end of such fixed term contract without entering into a new employment for more than twelve calendar months, which shall be deemed to have extended for a length of time identical to the existing fixed term employment contract;

“probationary worker” means a worker who works for a period of not exceeding 180 days within which such period the employer has the sole discretion to decide whether such worker is suitable for a particular position and if not may decide to extend such period for a maximum period of hundred and eighty days, and does not include a worker if such worker has been employed in the same post or performed the same work previously on any contract of service with that employer;

”seasonal employment contract” means a written contract of employment between an employer and a worker in respect of a specified seasonal work for a time to be specified in such contract in days or months and entered into on an actual or other basis and which shall not be deemed indefinite term contract if the time of engagement in each twelve month period shall not exceed six months;

”worker” shall have the same meaning assigned to the term “workman” in the Industrial Disputes

Act (Chapter 131);

”wages” means the basic salary or salary and the cost of living allowance or any other similar allowance.