Labour Minister warns employers against paying below new minimum wage

 

The Ministry of Labour says it will closely monitor employers who have refused pay the new minimum wage.

 

Effective June 1, the minimum wage was increased from $9,000 to $13,000 per 40-hour work week, while the rate for industrial security guards moved to $14,000 per week.

 

There have been concerns that employers who have flouted the law for years continue to underpay their workers.

 

But speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Tuesday, Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. warned that this breach of the law will not be tolerated. 

 

"The Ministry's Pay and Conditions of Employment Branch, which we call PCEB, has a team of labour officers who monitor employers and as they receive complaints from workers who feel that their labour rights have been violated, they execute inspections and carry out the necessary checks to make sure that the employers are abiding by the laws and the regulations," he said.

 

The minister encouraged people who believe their labour rights, including pay and leave entitlements, are being infringed, to "visit any one of our Ministry offices and...make your full complaint".