Employment
Labour Code Order 1992 with the DDPR and a Labour Court
The Labour Code Order 24 of 1992 governs employment, with the Directorate of Dispute Prevention and Resolution conciliating and arbitrating disputes before the Labour Court. The textile and garment sector, Lesotho's largest formal employer, is heavily covered by sectoral minimum wages set annually.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The DDPR conciliates and arbitrates; the Labour Court determines; the Labour Appeal Court hears appeals.
- Deadline — Unfair dismissal: referred to the DDPR within 6 months
- Deadline — Sectoral minimum wages: reviewed annually by the Wages Advisory Board
Governing law
- Labour Code Order 24 of 1992
- Labour Code (Amendment) Act 3 of 2000 — establishing the DDPR
- Labour Act 2024 — consolidating reform
In practice
The DDPR model was borrowed from South Africa's CCMA and is the operative forum for Lesotho dismissal law, which matters commercially because the garment sector's competitiveness is directly affected by the speed of that machinery.