Being called “casual” or “temporary” does not take you outside the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651). Part X of the Act (sections 74 to 78) gives both kinds of worker rights of their own, and it stops an employer keeping someone “temporary” for ever.
Which are you?
The Act’s own definitions (s.78):
| Casual worker | Temporary worker | |
|---|---|---|
| The work | Seasonal or intermittent | Not permanent, or seasonal in character |
| How long | Not continuously for more than six months | Continuously for at least a month |
| Pay | Worked out by the day | Not fixed by the definition |
Someone engaged every working day for a year on the same job is neither, whatever the letter says. The Supreme Court held in Benjamin Aryee and others v Cocoa Marketing Company that workers engaged continuously for over six months on work that was not intermittent were permanent employees, even though they were paid daily.
When a temporary worker becomes permanent
A temporary worker employed by the same employer continuously for 6 months or more is treated as a permanent worker (s.75(1)). That means the protections permanent staff have - notice, the rules against unfair termination, annual leave - apply.
Ending a contract a few days short of the line and starting a new one is the trick this rule exists to stop, and a worker who can show it was done to avoid section 75 can take it to the National Labour Commission or a court. Keep every contract, letter and payslip: they are how you prove the time.
What every temporary and casual worker is owed
- At least the minimum wage for each day worked - currently ₵21.77 a day (ss.74 and 75). A temporary worker also has the Act’s rules on hours of work, rest periods, night work and sick leave (s.75(2)).
- Full pay for a day you turn up, even if rain or anything else stops the work and no other work is found (ss.74 and 76).
- Overtime at the overtime rate (s.35).
- Public holidays: a full day’s pay for a public holiday you do not work, and if you work it, that day’s pay on top (s.77).
- Equal pay for work of equal value for each day worked (s.74).
- Access to the medical facilities the employer provides for its other workers (s.74).
A temporary or casual worker on weekdays only is owed at least the daily wage times 27 a month, less a day’s share for each day absent (s.76).
Contracts in writing
A casual worker’s contract need not be written (s.74). But anyone employed for 6 months or more - or for the same number of working days within a year - must have a written contract (s.12), and every worker should get a signed written statement of the main terms within 2 months of starting (s.13). Ask for both.
— Employment contract checklist
Fixed-term contracts
A contract for a set period or a set piece of work ends when the period or the work does, and the Act’s unfair termination rules do not apply to it (s.66). That is why the line between a genuine fixed-term contract and a permanent job dressed as one matters: renewed again and again for the same work, it starts to look like the second.
When you are not paid what the Act says
- Ask in writing for what is owed, with dates and amounts.
- Go to the Labour Department or the National Labour Commission. The Commission can order the employer to pay unpaid public holiday money (s.77), and hears complaints of unfair treatment.
- Join a union if your workplace has one; casual workers can.
— Your rights as an employee — Freelancing in Ghana — How to find a job in Accra