Employment
Law 12/2010 on labour relations, weakly enforced
Law 12/2010 is the operative labour code, setting hours, leave and termination rules. Enforcement capacity is limited and a large share of work, particularly by migrants, falls outside it entirely.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Labour offices and the ordinary courts. Social Security Fund administers contributions where functional.
Governing law
- Labour Relations Law 12/2010
- Social Security Law 13/1980
- Law 58/1970 on labour inspection
In practice
Law 12/2010 replaced the 1970 labour law and provides a conventional framework: a 48-hour maximum week, annual leave, notice on termination and severance, with restrictions on dismissal without cause. It also governs employment of foreign workers, requiring permits and preferring Libyan nationals. The gap between the text and practice is very wide. Public-sector employment dominates formal work and salary payment has been disrupted by the fiscal and banking split. Migrant labour, which accounts for much construction and service work, is largely undocumented and unprotected in practice, and the documented pattern of forced labour in detention sits entirely outside the labour law framework. Union activity was suppressed under Gaddafi and has not developed a stable statutory footing since.