Supermarket operators warned to comply with labour laws

The Min­istry of Labour, Small and Mi­cro En­ter­prise De­vel­op­ment has launched an in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to al­leged breach­es of labour laws in­volv­ing work­ers at two su­per­mar­kets fol­low­ing claims made in a Face­book post.

In a me­dia re­lease, the min­istry said Labour In­spec­tors would mon­i­tor and en­force labour laws where ap­plic­a­ble af­ter al­le­ga­tions were raised con­cern­ing breach­es of the Min­i­mum Wage Laws and work­ers’ rights.

The min­istry re­mind­ed su­per­mar­ket op­er­a­tors of their oblig­a­tions un­der the law and out­lined sev­er­al re­quire­ments em­ploy­ers must fol­low.

Among the re­quire­ments high­light­ed was the le­gal age of em­ploy­ment in Trinidad and To­ba­go, which is 16 years un­der the Chil­dren’s Act, Part XIV re­lat­ing to the em­ploy­ment of young per­sons.

The min­istry al­so re­mind­ed em­ploy­ers of their oblig­a­tions un­der the Na­tion­al Min­i­mum Wage and Na­tion­al In­sur­ance laws, in­clud­ing the pay­ment of over­time and manda­to­ry de­duc­tions for Na­tion­al In­sur­ance con­tri­bu­tions.

Em­ploy­ers were ad­vised that wages must meet or ex­ceed the na­tion­al min­i­mum wage rates of $20.50 per hour, $164 dai­ly, $820 week­ly and $3,553.33 month­ly for a 40-hour work week.

The re­lease fur­ther stat­ed that work­ers are en­ti­tled to a 45-minute meal break and an ad­di­tion­al 15-minute rest break.

The min­istry al­so out­lined pro­vi­sions for va­ca­tion leave, sick leave and ma­ter­ni­ty leave. Work­ers are en­ti­tled to two weeks’ va­ca­tion with pay af­ter 12 months of ser­vice and 14 work­ing days of paid sick leave af­ter six months of ser­vice.

Em­ploy­ers were al­so re­mind­ed that work­ers with 12 con­sec­u­tive months of ser­vice are en­ti­tled to ma­ter­ni­ty leave ben­e­fits, in­clud­ing one-month full pay and two months half pay, as well as time off for pre-na­tal clin­ic vis­its.

The min­istry said em­ploy­ers must al­so com­pen­sate em­ploy­ees for over­time worked be­yond eight hours per day or 40 hours per week and ap­ply spe­cial rates for work on pub­lic hol­i­days.

Su­per­mar­ket op­er­a­tors were al­so in­struct­ed to main­tain wage and at­ten­dance records for three years, pro­vide in­spec­tors with in­for­ma­tion re­lat­ed to work­ers’ terms and con­di­tions, and per­mit work­place in­spec­tions and work­er in­ter­views.

The min­istry said Labour In­spec­tors re­main com­mit­ted to mon­i­tor­ing work­places, in­ves­ti­gat­ing com­plaints and pro­mot­ing good in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions prac­tices across Trinidad and To­ba­go.