The Honourable Minister of Labour, Mr. Kenneth Hodge, has recently sounded a warning to employers who employ workers from overseas on work permits without providing them with accommodation conducive to proper living conditions. The Minister made the announcement in his report during the bi-weekly Government Press Conference of Monday, January 5th 2024.
“We are finding some very disturbing conditions under which work permit holders are living,” the Minister said. “These are squalid conditions that no one would want to even put an animal in.”
He said that he has seen pictures of such living environments. These pictures, he noted, are evidence of the conditions that persons who come here from far places, with no family dependence or other means of support, are being forced to live in such sub-standard conditions.
“In some cases,” Minister Hodge stated, “these employees even undergo abuse from the employers. This is a wake-up call especially for employers who believe that they can engage in this kind of practice and get away with it.”
When asked how widespread this trend was, Mr. Hodge said that it is a growing problem particularly among “the lower levels of work-permit holders.” He said that when employers bring in persons to work on the island (on work-permits), according to the Labour Laws such an employer is responsible for facilitating the employee with acceptable living conditions.
“I am sounding the warning now, and we are letting the employers concerned know that we are dealing with such matters in a very aggressive manner,” Mr. Hodge said.
One media personality asked whether the employer isn’t responsible for supplying the Ministry of Labour with an image of the accommodation unit for such employees. The Minister admitted, yes, that used to be the requirement in the past, but of late such a demand has been relaxed. However, he insisted that going forward, this part of the law, by all means, will certainly be reinforced by the Department of Labour.
