No. 65 - Penal Sanctions (Indigenous Workers), 1939 [Shelved]

Provisions

• All penal sanctions are to be abolished for any breach of contract of employment by an indigenous worker (as defined in Convention 64).
• For the purpose of this Convention breach of contract is defined as:
  • refusal or failure to commence or perform the service stipulated in the contract;
  • neglect of duty or lack of diligence; or
  • absence without permission or valid reason; and desertion.

Administered by

No designated agency.

How New Zealand implements it

• In New Zealand, as in Tokelau, no act or default is punishable unless it is expressly made punishable by an Act of Parliament or other enactment.
• No enactment in either country makes it an offence for an 'indigenous employee' to break a contract of employment.
• No penal sanctions can therefore lawfully be imposed for breach of employment contract.
• Any employer who attempted to impose such a sanction on any employee by taking the law into his own hands would be liable to be charged with assault or another criminal offence.

This Convention is applicable to Tokelau.

Ratified - 8 July 1947

Total ratifications - 32

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