Minimum wage non-compliance hotline goes live on Thursday

In an effort to enforce compliance with the national minimum wage (NMW), Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi will on Thursday launch a new hotline that will allow workers to report cases of non-compliance with the NMW at no cost to them.

This after Nxesi signed a notice published in the Government Gazette on 17 February 2020, which approved a new hourly rate of R20.76 that became applicable as of Sunday 1 March.

The amendment also allows farmworkers to be entitled to a minimum wage of R18.68 per hour while domestic workers are entitled to a minimum wage of R15.57 per hour. Workers employed on an expanded public works programme (EPWP) will receive a minimum wage of R11.42 per hour.

The top-off line will be called the Impimpa hotline and will be backed by of one of the country’s leading cellular providers which will provide a messaging interaction mechanism for end-users (workers) as an alternative means of reporting non-compliance.

“The NMW Impimpa hotline will provide an effective monitoring and enforcement system. Its launch is seen as vital to the success of this significant policy intervention (NMW),” the department said in a statement.

The department could not be drawn on clarity regarding how defaulters would be dealt with but added that all would be explained following Thursday’s launch.

(Compiled by Kaunda Selisho)

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