March 1: The number of complaints related to workers not getting minimum wages, allowances or benefits as per the law has started to increase. Sujan Jojiju, head of Teku-based Labor Office of the government said that the number of complaints related to labour exploitation by organisations has increased of late.

According to him, 324 people have filed personal complaints in the last two months (mid-December to mid-February) alone. According to him, most of the complaints received by the office are related to the minimum wage. After receiving the complaint, the office requests for necessary documents and accurate details. The office has conducted inquiries and investigations based on the details received and the complaints filed at the office.

Jojiju said that the Labour Office at first arranges negotiations between the petitioner and the employer to sort out the dispute.

"We reserve the right to either settle the dispute through a tripartite discussion and agreement or take a decision in accordance with the law," he told New Business Age.

Following the rise in the number of complaints, the Labour Office has started monitoring to find the facts.

Jojiju, the head of the Labour Office, said that they monitored 375 establishments in the last two months. He said that the monitoring teams found that some of the workers working in the establishments were not paid the minimum wage as required by the law. He added that the workers were not even paid for over-time work.

During the monitoring, the Labour Office found that especially the workers of banks and financial institutions were made to work overtime and were not even paid the minimum wage.

"During the monitoring, we found that the banks employed employees for more than eight hours a day," he said, adding, "Many employees did not receive over-time wages. Some workers did not even get the minimum wage.”

While inspecting the situation of child labour, the Labour Office found some small hotels were using children. The office issued warnings to some of them while it took action against some hotels.

According to the office, it received 245 labor audit reports in the last two months, while it issued four new permits for labour supply. During that review period, 50 labour supply companies renewed their license.

The Labour Office has also inspected labour supply companies. During the inspection of 33 companies, it was found that some of them employed workers without paying the minimum wage. This was especially prevalent among security companies.