Labour Ministry recovered $31.7M in restitution for workers in 2024

…Minister says decline in cases recorded

Speaking during the Labour Ministry’s end-of-year press conference on Tuesday, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton revealed that some $31.7 million in restitution has been recovered from companies, chief among those being security firms.
As the Ministry of Labour continues to intervene in workers’ grievances with their employers, to ensure amicable solutions to those grievances, Minister Hamilton noted, the Labour Ministry’s team has made significant strides in addressing issues relating to these grievances.

Many of the concerns have been related to failure of employers to remit to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) deductions made from workers’ remunerations in this regard.
Minister Hamilton has said that, through intervention of the Labour Ministry, more than $200 million in restitution were recovered from defiant companies from 2020 to date.
“I know there was a time when we had a couple hundred cases. I am told by the lawyers that we were successful in dealing with most, if not all, of them…If I recall, over the four-year period, we have recouped nearly $200 million – over $200 million. So, in four years, we have been able to recover over $200 million for workers from employers across this country,” Minister Hamilton disclosed.
Notably, the minister said, security companies have been identified as the employers mostly found guilty of breaching labour laws, as some 24 per cent of cases originate from within those establishments.
“The chief culprit in the situation are security services and companies; and when they rob people in 2024, next year, in 2025, they change the company name to another name. So, we have to do a lot of work there, and we have been taking them to court…As I have said, 24 per cent of complaints come from the security companies,” he reiterated.
The minister revealed that, for 2024, more than $30 million in restitution for workers were recovered by the Labour Ministry.
“…this year, we were able to recover $31.7 million on behalf of employees from companies…,” he noted. In 2023, however, the Labour Ministry had recovered $69 million in restitution; and Hamilton has attributed this decline to a positive outcome from the ministry’s continuous sensitization activities and awareness campaigns.
“We have had some redress. So, this year 2024, compared to the last year, saw a 25 per cent decline in complaints lodged with the Ministry of Labour, and this can be attributed to the increase in outreaches and seminars done by the Labour Department over the years,” he surmised.
The Labour Ministry had, in 2023, received more than 900 complaints from employees regarding various issues; such as termination benefits, annual leave, unlawful deductions from salaries, overtime payments, failure to pay minimum wage, and severance payments, the minister disclosed. The Ministry’s Labour Department was able to resolve 85 per cent of these complaints on behalf of the employees, and the other 15 per cent was set to be resolved within the first quarter of 2024, he explained.
Meanwhile, in a bid to improve its service, the Labour Ministry last year launched a Digital Complaints and Information Management System, which is coupled with a “Labour Advice” Mobile Application app. The sum of $2.5 million was expended by the ministry to develop the application, and this was spearheaded by the National Data Management Authority (NDMA). The user-friendly mobile app is tailored to facilitate employers and employees lodging labour violations and complaints digitally.
The Digital Complaints and Information Management System – which can be accessed on Google Play and the Apple Store – allows its members to track their complaints at the various levels at the Labour Ministry. However, the system would not replace the existing walk-in service, given that the ministry’s primary goal is to resolve all complaints amicably, and to ensure that the process is fair, transparent, and without prejudice or bias.