Section 14 of the Employment Act (Chapter 373) is short, plain, and routinely ignored. It applies at the point of hiring, and it applies to three different people.
Who has to tell you
Where an employer, an employment agent or a worker-recruiter employs or seeks to employ a person, he shall inform that person of the terms and conditions of the employment, including the eight particulars set out below.
Two features are easy to miss. The duty falls on agents and recruiters as well as employers — see worker-recruiters and employment agents. And it bites when a person is sought to be employed, not only when employed: the definitions of “employee” and “employer” in section 1 both include a prospective party, so the duty is owed at recruitment.
The eight particulars
| Paragraph | What must be disclosed | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | The name of the employer | Identifies who you sue, and who owes wages |
| (b) | The name of the place or places of employment | “Places” — you must be told if you can be moved |
| (c) | The location of those places | Drives repatriation and housing duties |
| (d) | The occupation | Determines any applicable award and rate |
| (e) | The nature of the work in that occupation | Guards against being hired for one job and given another |
| (f) | The period of the employment | Fixed term, unspecified, or seasonal |
| (g) | The total wage and the deductions (if any) | Deductions must be lawful under Part V |
| (h) | The manner of paying wages, including arrangements for refundable deductions | Cash, cheque or bank; and when refundable amounts come back |
A worker who is told a headline figure and then finds housing, rations, transport and “administration” taken out of it has not been told the total wage and the deductions. Section 14(g) requires both, and section 14(h) requires the arrangements for anything that is to be refunded later.
Section 21 — the same particulars go into the contract
A contract of service to which Part III applies shall contain the particulars specified in Section 14.
And section 21(2): an attested contract shall be in the prescribed form.
So section 14 is not merely a disclosure rule at the door. The same eight items must appear in the contract itself. A written contract that omits them does not comply with section 21.
Section 15 — the written record of an oral contract
Where an employer and an employee enter into an oral contract of service, the employer shall, at the time of the engagement, make a written record of the terms and conditions of the contract.
And then the sanction, which is unusually strong:
Where a dispute arises as to the terms and conditions of an oral contract and the employer fails to produce a record under section 15(1), a statement by the employee as to the terms and conditions shall be conclusive evidence of those terms — unless the employer satisfies the Secretary or an Arbitration Tribunal established under the Industrial Relations Act to the contrary.
This reverses the ordinary burden. In a wage dispute where nothing was written down, the employee’s account of what was agreed governs unless the employer can displace it before the Secretary or a Tribunal. It is the single strongest reason for an employer to keep the section 15 record — and the single strongest reason for a worker to ask whether one exists.
If you were misled at recruitment
Two provisions respond directly to false statements at hiring:
- Section 36(2)(a)(i) — an employee may terminate without notice where he was induced to enter the contract by force, fraud, or a statement misleading in any material particular relating to the employment.
- Section 133 — Part X creates offences of fraud for employment purposes. See the offences.
- Ask for the eight particulars in writing before you accept. A one-page letter is enough and section 14 entitles you to the substance of it.
- Ask specifically about deductions — housing, rations, transport, uniforms — and which are refundable.
- Keep the advertisement, the message or the letter that described the job.
- If it is an oral engagement, ask for the section 15 record on the first day.
- If a recruiter or agent hired you, note their name and licence — section 14 binds them too, and section 116 forbids an agent charging you a fee.
Sources
- Employment Act (Chapter 373) — ss 1, 14, 15, 21, 36, 116, 133
- Industrial Relations Act — PacLII 1986 Revised Edition
- Bar v Kora [2008] PGNC 17; N3290
- Sarathy v PNG Power Ltd [2021] PGNC 681; N10316
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Employment Act (Chapter 373) and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.