Withholding pay a Labour Act violation
The Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation’s executive director, BroMatthew Shinguadja, has urged employers to refrain from withholding their employees’ salaries as it contravenes the Labour Act.
Shinguadja said this in statement issued on Tuesday after the ministry received a complaint from a farmworker who was allegedly assaulted by a farm manager after he demanded his payment at a farm in the Okahandja district last month.
He said that the employee, who was owed N$3 000, was eventually paid on 2 November 2020 after the ministry intervened.
“Although remuneration in that case has been fully settled, the ministry would like to categorically state that the practice of withholding an employee’s remuneration is in contravention of the Labour Act.
An employer is obliged to pay an employee any monetary remuneration entitled to him or her not later than one hour after the
completion of the ordinary hours of work on the normal pay day,” said Shinguadja.
He added that with regard to assault, the victim has opened a criminal case with the police against the farm manager, and the case is one of the unfortunate cases as it came at a time when Namibia was busy preparing to ratify the International Labour Organisat ion (ILO) convention on the elimination of violence and harassment in the workplace.
“The minister responsible for labour tabled the said
convention in the National Assembly in early August this year, where he was given permission to proceed with ratification.
Arr angements are currently underway to deposit instruments of ratification with the ILO director general.
Once the convention is ratified, Namibia will have an impor t ant responsibility to promote a general environment of zero tolerance to violence,” explained Shinguadja.
– Nampa