Labour Minister flags SOL for not paying overtime

May 02, 2021 News

Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton

Kaieteur News – Following a visit to SOL Guyana Incorporated’s headquarters on Friday, the Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, has flagged the company’s Surinamese management for not paying its workers overtime, stating that it is a breach of Guyana’s Labour Laws.
In an interview conducted with News Room, an online media entity, Hamilton expressed his disappointment and also affirmed, “I don’t even allow Guyanese employers to attempt to take advantage of Guyanese people, and I take great offence when people who come to this country to work think they can take advantage. That will not happen… there are no sacred cows.”
Despite Guyana’s Labour Act outlining that workers are to be paid overtime salaries for all hours worked beyond their eight-hour shift, it was revealed during the interview that SOL workers were not paid their overtime salaries since last year.

Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton

The company had complained of the effects the COVID-19 pandemic caused and instead, it sought to compensate for the owed monies by giving the employees days off. In response to that Hamilton said, “Apparently, in Suriname, they don’t pay overtime. What they do is calculate the overtime and they give you as days off. So that is what they have migrated here but the law here is that you have to pay money.”
It was also said that workers were being intimidated by management after complaining of their grievances with the company, but Hamilton asserted that they have nothing to be afraid of. “You have nothing to fear via people attempting to intimidate you for speaking up and out for your rights and seeking intervention from the authorities. Any such attempt to penalise people for standing up for their rights, we will take it to the other place,” he lamented.
He has since written to the company’s management and they are expected to have a meeting on May 6, 2021.
Kaieteur News would have reported that just recently the Labour Ministry swooped down on Vaitarna Holdings Private Incorporated, an Indian logging company operating in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), for “obvious violations” of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, as well as, breaches of the labour legislation, in particular overtime payments for workers. The company was also flagged for poor human rights conditions and a complete absence of COVID-19 Protocols in the workplace.
In addition, last year the Ministry intervened in a grievance between local employees of Zijin Mining, the company that has taken over the Aurora Gold Mines, over unpaid overtime salaries and has been rolling out an advanced programme to safeguard worker’s rights.