ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Grenadian employers, including the government, will, from January 1 next year, pay increased minimum salaries or wages to workers, including media workers, whether trainees, part-time or full-time employees.
According to a notice published in the official Gazette, any working person’s minimum salary or wage will be no less than EC$1,200 per month (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) or no less than EC$60 per day.
The minimum wage currently focuses on 14 workers, namely industrial and clerical, security guards, domestic workers, caregivers of older people, bakeries, agricultural workers, construction workers, shop assistants, workers in the hospitality industry, and vehicle drivers.
“The new minimum wage order will cover an expanded category of workers to include media workers, call center workers, helpers on construction sites, and sanitization workers,” Labour Minister Claudette Joseph told Parliament during the debate on the 2024 national budget.
The last time changes were made to the minimum wage order was in 2011. However, the Employment Act recommends that it be done every three years.
The new minimum wage recommendations were agreed to following a series of public consultations with employers and employees conducted by a cabinet-appointed committee.
Describing the decision by the government to increase the minimum wage as “brave and historic,” Joseph said that “this will no doubt help in poverty eradication and help in building a resilience and stable labor market.”
She also said that the regulated amount is for mainly entry-level employees.
According to the minimum wage order, some employees will receive as high as a 100 percent increase while others will receive less.
For example, store clerks receiving EC$700 will receive EC$1200. Media workers, specifically announcers and reporters receiving EC$1,000 and under, will receive EC$1,400 per month or EC$375 per week.
The Employment Act states that every employer affected by a minimum wage order shall post in a conspicuous place a notice fully informing the employees of the order’s contents.
“An employer who violates this section commits an offense and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months,” according to the legislation.
It also states that an employer who pays less than the rate of wages prescribed in a minimum wage order commits an offense and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding EC$5,000 on the first conviction and a second or subsequent conviction, to a penalty not exceeding EC$10,000.
The law further explains that where it is found that an employer paid less than the rate of wages prescribed in a minimum wage order, the Court shall order the employer to pay to the employee or the employees the difference between the amount which should have been paid and the amount which was paid and interest on that amount where appropriate.
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