LABOUR ACT [Chapter 28:01] (as amended) including the prohibition of the employment of persons below the age of sixteen years; (i) the restriction on the employment of juveniles and pregnant women in specified types and categories of employment or at specified hours, and the rights and privileges of mothers with suckling infants; (j) the regulation and control of employment on contract, overtime, part-time, short-time or casual basis, including the conditions relating to any such employment; (k) the encouragement of employment of disabled persons and the remuneration and allowances payable to, and the facilities which should be provided for, such persons; (l) the settling of disputes in a category or class of employment by reference to specified officials or tribunals; (m) the protection of the rights of employees in respect of wages, pensions, benefits and holidays where the employer terminates or transfers his undertaking; (n) the implementation of any national or international standards of employment, including those related to the rights and obligations of employers and employees as to safety, health and compensation for occupational disablement; (o) the recruitment and employment of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour and apprentices in any occupation, including the regulation and control of the recruitment of citizens, non-citizens and residents for any type of employment within and outside Zimbabwe: Provided that no regulations shall be made in terms of this paragraph without prior consultation with the Minister responsible for apprenticeship training; (p) the employment of unemployed persons and persons released from penal institutions; (q) regulating and restricting the circumstances in which employers may suspend or terminate the employment of any of their employees; (r) specifying or otherwise restricting the circumstances in which contracts of employment may be terminated summarily or otherwise; (s) the reinstatement of employees where they have been retrenched, whether voluntarily or otherwise in circumstances which are to their disadvantage, or which are contrary to the national interest; (t) the regulation and control of persons recruiting labour or operating employment agencies, including the registration of such persons or employment agencies; (u) any other matter relating to or connected with employment which it may be necessary to regulate. (4) Regulations made in terms of subsection (1) may provide for penalties for any contravention thereof: Provided that no such penalty shall exceed a fine of level five or imprisonment for a period of six months or both such fine and such imprisonment. Re-issue (5) Unless in the opinion of the Minister the urgency of the situation demands otherwise, the Minister shall, before making regulations in terms of this section, cause to be published in the Gazette a notice setting forth the general purport of the proposed regulations and stating that the regulations shall be open for inspection at a place specified in the notice, and calling upon persons who have any objections to the proposed regulations to lodge them in writing with the Minister within thirty days of the date of publication of such notice: Provided that failure by the Minister to comply with this subsection shall not affect the validity of the regulations concerned. 18 Maternity leave (1) Unless more favourable conditions have otherwise been provided for in any employment contract or in any enactment, maternity leave shall be granted in terms of this section for a period of ninety days on full pay to a female employee who has served for at least one year. (2) On production of a certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner or State Registered Nurse certifying that she is pregnant, a female employee may proceed on maternity leave not earlier than the forty-fifth day and not later than the twenty-first day prior to the expected date of delivery. (3) A female employee shall be entitled to be granted a maximum of three periods of maternity leave with respect to her total service to any one employer during which she shall be paid her full salary: Provided that paid maternity leave shall be granted only once during any period of twentyfour months calculated from the day any previous maternity leave was granted. (4) A female employee who has served for less than one year and who requires leave for maternity purposes, shall, at her request, be granted ninety days’ maternity leave without pay: Provided that if, during such leave, she completes one year’s service, she shall be paid her full salary for so much of such leave as is taken during her second year of service, and the period for which she is so paid shall count as one of the periods of paid maternity leave referred to in subsection (3). (5) Any maternity leave requested in excess of the limits prescribed in this section may be granted as unpaid maternity leave. (6) Unless the employer grants sick leave for medical reasons other than maternity, sick leave may not be granted once paid maternity leave has begun or during a period of unpaid maternity leave. (7) During the period when a female employee is on maternity leave in accordance with this section, her normal benefits and entitlements, including her rights to seniority or advancement and the accumulation of pension rights, shall continue uninterrupted in the manner in which they would have continued had she not gone on - 18 - 1st May 2003-