Wholesale and retail businesses owed workers more than N$1.5 million between April and June this year.
The Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations told The Namibian yesterday that it recovered N$1.5 million during the three-month period linked to 1 241 labour complaints. The money was linked to unpaid salaries, unlawful deductions and other payments owed to employees.
Ministry spokesperson Maria Hedimbi says the amount mainly consisted of money owed to workers rather than employee benefits.
“It is actually not benefits, but it’s money owed to the employee,” Hedimbi says.
She says labour inspections found common violations, including non-payment of wages, unlawful deductions and employers failing to provide statutory sick leave.
Hedimbi further says the ministry does not inspect every wholesale and retail business. Instead, it carries out routine random inspections at workplaces. She says the ministry sets inspection targets every quarter.
“For the last quarter, from April to June, our target in terms of conditions of employment was 1 032 inspections. We only conducted 867,” Hedimbi says.
Labour expert Herbert Jauch says many workers do not demand wages and other payments they are entitled to because they fear losing their jobs.
He says some employers continue withholding money owed to employees because many workers are afraid to report labour law violations.
“This fear is common and often stops workers from confronting their employers, even when the law protects them. If employers are not reported for these violations, or if workers are not unionised and the trade unions don’t provide them with protection, then employers get away with it,” says Jauch.
He says the issue is not only about having laws but also about enforcing them.
He says the amount recovered may represent only a small part of the problem.
“But my fear is that this might just be the tip of the iceberg, that there are still many employers and many companies that are withholding some of these benefits and that money is not yet recovered.”
The revelations come after the parliamentary standing committee on labour and industrial relations last month found several wholesale and retail businesses in the Ohangwena region were not complying with labour laws during an oversight visit. At the time, the committee found that several retail businesses were violating the Labour Act, including minimum wage regulations of N$18 per hour.
The deputy general secretary of the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), Absalom Willem, states that employers must pay workers everything they are owed.
“If the ministry says employers must pay what is owed to employees, we support that position,” he says.
Shadow minister of justice and labour relations Elvis Lizazi says workers deserve to receive what they are legally owed.
Lizazi says the recovery is encouraging, especially for workers who have been waiting for payments.
“There are workers at Tsumeb who are still complaining that they have not yet been paid their severance pay,” he tells The Namibian.
He says if these workers are among those whose money has now been recovered, it would be a positive development.
“If they are also part of the workers whose money was recovered and a solution has been found to their predicament, I am so happy,” Lizazi says.
He says employers who repeatedly fail to pay workers what they owe should face legal action.
“Companies that default in such matters, I think the law should take its course. If there are legal remedies, they should be put in place so that companies should also learn that Namibia is not a safe haven where you come and do whatever you want to the employee and you get away with it,” he says.
