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Introduction

The employment law framework in Myanmar is primarily set out in the following key pieces of legislation:

  1. the Workmen's Compensation Act 1923, which prescribes mandatory compensation to be paid by employers for certain types of workplace injuries;
  2. the Registration of Foreigners Rules 1948, which governs the registration process and the permits required for foreign employees to work in Myanmar;
  3. the Factories Act 1951, which applies to certain types of workplaces, primarily those in which manufacturing processes and related types of work are being carried out;
  4. the Leave and Holidays Act 1951 and the Leave and Holidays Rules 2018, which regulate the leave and holiday entitlements of employees in Myanmar;
  5. the Labour Organisation Law 2011, which provides for the formation of a basic labour body at organisation level and at township, state, region and union level, respectively;
  6. the Social Security Law 2012 and the Social Security Rules 2014, which provide for the establishment and regulation of the national social security fund to provide various forms of protection to employees who are registered under the social security programme;
  7. the Employment and Skills Development Law 2013, the aim of which is to facilitate and put in place measures to help employers select prospective employees and to promote the training and development of employees in Myanmar;
  8. the Minimum Wage Law 2013, which sets out the legislative framework for setting minimum wages;
  9. the Shops and Establishments Law 2016 (SEL), which regulates various rights of employees working in shops and establishments, including limits on working hours and overtime pay requirements;
  10. the Payment of Wages Law 2016, which prescribes time limits within which salaries must be paid to employees and the circumstances under which deductions may be made lawfully from the employee's salary;
  11. the Child Rights Law 2019, which specifies a general minimum age for any employment; and
  12. the Settlement of Labour Disputes Law 2019, which provides a mechanism for resolving labour disputes through conciliation or adjudication before a labour tribunal.

In addition to the above legislation, a few key employment-related notifications have been issued by the relevant authorities in recent years, including:

  1. Notification No. 84/2015 issued by the then Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (a predecessor of the current Ministry of Labour (MOL)) on severance payments;
  2. Notification No. 140/2017 issued by the then Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population (MOLIP, a predecessor of the MOL), which prescribes the model employment contract (MEC) template that all employment contracts entered into with local Myanmar employees are required to follow; and
  3. Notification Nos. 1/2023 and 2/2023 issued by the National Committee for Minimum Wage,2 which have increased the prevailing minimum wage (i.e., to 5,800 kyats per day).

The employment law framework is primarily administered by the MOL. In practice, most labour law matters are handled by the relevant township-level labour office with territorial jurisdiction over the matter.