An Appraisal of the Breach of the Obligation of Care `By Employers to Injured Employees Under Cameroonian Law

Abstract

Labour law is crucial in identifying breach of care situations by employers to victim employees in industrial relations. As such, labour law has been used as means to punish a respondent’s negligence for breaching his contractual obligation of care towards claimants. In this light, an employer is liable for the breach of contractual obligation of care towards the worker. However, when an employer’s negligence causes harm to a worker, he is free to sue for redress against the employer at the level of the competent labour inspectorates and subsequently courts. The key element among other of a negligent claim relates to the obligation of care. This article therefore highlights on the one hand to establish the employers’ breach of the obligation of care. This obligation of care is governed by three main elements namely: care, breach of care and damages. It furthermore investigates disputes issues arising as a result of the breach of care by the employer to injured employees. The data collected in this paper constitute the sources from which the law is drawn, stated and analysed in the light of the stated aim of the paper. From the paper, it was argued that in spite of the existing crafted laws regulating liability system in Cameroon, the latter is still inadequate and as such not achieving the compensation goal. Proving employers’ negligence however remains challenging in such a way that workers and labour judges have to acquire proper knowledge and adequate skills in handling labour matters. This search also proves that there are number of lapses in laws governing the safety and security of workers in Cameroon. In Cameroon, no employee enjoys fully or partly his statutory rights, and this is because of the improper organisation by the Ministry of Regional and departmental delegations of Labour and Social Security. This paper therefore, recommends that prove of liability must be shifted from the employee to the management to show the means and as such, free the employee from any responsibility. The results are equally significant as they expose the gap which exist between the outdated 1992 labour Code and concludes with suggestions on the amendment of this law in order to enhance adequacy with respect to the scrupulous observation of the statutory rights of injured workers in Cameroon.