In 2014, a total of 1,244 complaints were lodged with the Ministry of Labour, of which 821 or 66% of those were resolved, GINA said.
While in 2014 more complaints were lodged, less were concluded and this was due to the fact that many of the complaints were related to the mining industry, GINA said in a report on the Ministry’s end-of-year press conference. It said that in the mining industry, both employers and their complainants seem to always be out of touch with the Ministry.
Of the 1,244 complaints, only 24 or 1.9% were related to non-payment of wages below the national minimum wage. The Ministry said that this is an indication that the national minimum wage is now settled and the defaulters, despite some amount of resistance, have now accommodated the request. A small number of persons made requests for the minimum wage to be paid and wages to be investigated.
“Out of the complaints the sum of $31.5M was recovered on behalf of workers, representing $4.2M for annual leave, $1M for overtime, terminal benefits $12M, wages $13M and $18.2M for complaints being in the pipe line. During the course of 2014, $49.7M was received on behalf of workers filing cases with the ministry”, GINA said.
In addition to this, the sums collected constituted out-of-court settlements against employers and the number filed in 2014 was 141. The number of matters closed was 38 and the number of employers taken to court in 2014 totalled 57. GINA said that the number of charges was 362 in 2014, with 130 cases pending and filed, including paying wages, failure to provide severance pay, in lieu of notice and grant leave with pay.
