Dear Editor
PURSUANT to an earlier release to the media, the Ministry of Social Protection wishes to remind shop and store owners that they are required to comply with the relevant labour legislation including the Shops (Consolidation) Act of 2012.According to that Act, Shops, inclusive of stores and stalls in the municipal markets, can be opened for business between the hours of 7:30 am. to 10:00 pm, but it is not expected that employees will be continually employed for all those hours on any single day.
Employees in such businesses are required by the Minimum Wages Order of 2013 to work eight hours per day or 40 hours per week during a five-day work-week. A meal interval shall apply on every day, and where the workday extends beyond eight hours, additional time for taking meals must be granted.
During the current Christmas season, when shops, stores, etc are inclined to be open for extended periods and employees are called upon to work more than eight hours, employers are hereby reminded that the requisite overtime rates of pay shall apply.
Apart from paying employees the required basic pay and the overtime rates, employers are reminded that they are also required to make the necessary NIS deductions from the emoluments of employees and promptly remit same to the NIS.
Finally, while business owners may wish to maximise their opportunities during the Christmas period, they should not open or cause to be opened, their business premises beyond 10:00 o’clock in the night. With respect to the payment of wages, the ministry has been reliably informed that some employers who may not necessarily be Shop Operators, have been withholding wages from employees for a number of reasons. The ministry wishes to advise that such an illegal practice must cease forthwith. All employers are respectfully reminded that any breach of any of the Labour Laws will be answered with forceful prosecution.
Regards
Keith Scott
Minister Within the Ministry of Social Protection