Fifty-seven (57) Liberian workers at the China Mall, Paynesville City, are being made to sign employment contracts with their management and to benefit from increment in salaries.
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 a team of Labor Inspectors, led by Deputy Labor Minister for Planning and Manpower Development, Hannah M. Karbo, discovered that 57 Liberians working with the Chinese business were working without any employment status such as employment contracts or letters of employment in violation of the 2015 Decent Work Act of Liberia.
Deputy Minister Karbo and her team also discovered that the workers were working for ten (10) hours a day instead of eight (8) hours for a day’s work, in keeping with the Labor Law of Liberia.
Following these discoveries, the Labor Ministry’s inspectorate team temporarily shut-down the mall to ensure compliance to the Labor Law.
After hours of discussion and dialogue between the management and the Ministry of Labor, the management of China Mall immediately commenced the issuance of employment contracts to the Liberian workers.
The management has also agreed to pay for the overtime of two hours per-day the workers had worked in the past and to begin the payment of US$67.00 monthly as overtime of extra two hours per day’s work.
As a result of the ministry’s intervention, the salary of Liberian workers working with the China Mall have now been increased from US$180.00 to US$247.00 monthly.
Addressing the workers following the ministry’s interventions, Deputy Minister Karbo thanked the workers for their openness in informing the inspectors of the ministry about their working condition at the Chinese business.
The Deputy Labor Minister used the occasion to inform workers across the country that the Labor Ministry is open to all, and encouraged them to call on the ministry whenever there are issues.
The exercise is part of a nationwide labor inspection of business and employment institutions recently embarked on by the Ministry of Labor.