Sunday World reports that the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) warned last week that there would be no place to hide for companies and employers who paid their employees less than the set national minimum wage (NMW).

Speaking at a seminar in Richards Bay last week, the DEL said employers who failed to comply with the NMW would suffer a heavy penalty. Head of the department’s advocacy and stakeholder relations unit Pravine Naidoo said: “An employer who is found to have failed to comply with the national minimum wage will be fined by a labour inspector an amount equal to twice the value of the underpayment or twice the monthly wage, whichever is greater for first offenders and an amount equal to thrice the value of the underpayment or thrice the monthly wage, whichever is the greater, for repeat offenders.” Naidoo said in addition to the penalties, the department was required by the NMW Act to publish in its official website, on a quarterly basis, all the employers that had been issued with compliance orders for failure to comply with the NMW. He added that it was an unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally alter hours of work or other conditions of employment. Naidoo gave a stern warning to employers that they should desist from making deductions without employees agreeing in writing or there being a debt specified in the agreement.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Mdakane at Sunday World

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