Employers in Zambia have been urged by the government to apply new minimum wages that comply with labour legislation.
Givens Muntengwa, the Labour Commissioner, issued a warning, stating that arrears would accrue if businesses did not start implementing the new minimum salaries this weekend.
Muntengwa said in a statement released in Lusaka that non-compliant enterprises would be subject to an administrative fine by the ministry of at least K60,000 if they were found to be in violation.
He claimed that the adoption of hourly rates shows that the government did not enact the legislative tools to hinder economic growth but rather to promote productivity in the labour market.
According to the Labour Commissioner, this meant that workers would now receive payment for the number of hours they had put in in addition to their monthly income as they were previously paid.
“This, therefore, on one hand promotes productivity and on the other seeks to motivate employees to work hard for they will be paid for the effort put in”, Muntengwa explained.
He declared that the ministry would work to discover means of fostering goodwill between employers and workers since productivity is impossible in the absence of harmony. Muntengwa went on to say that in accordance with the Industrial and Labour Relations Act, workers’ rights must be upheld while they also collaborate with management.
He said that the government acknowledged the private sector’s contributions to the economy’s reconstruction, which in turn generates employment possibilities.
“It was for that reason that recently government promulgated the National Pension Scheme (Penalty Waiver) Regulations Statutory Instrument No. 3 of 2024, in order to give relief to the companies that have outstanding NAPSA obligations so long as the requirements stated in the Statutory Instruments are met,” Muntengwa said.
The Zambian Employment Code Act (No. 3 of 2019) establishes the labour advisory committees’ roles and oversees the employer-employee relationship in Zambia.
