Kampala – Workers’ Member of Parliament Arinaitwe Rwakajara has called upon employers to ensure timely payment of remunerations to their employees.
This follows several reports that some employers, especially media house owners in Uganda, don’t pay their employees while others take long to do so. It’s reported that on many occasions, when these workers speak out, they are threatened with dismissal from their places of work.
In an exclusive interview with LBS Newsday, MP Rwakajara castigated such employers noting it’s high time they prioritized their employees’ well-being over profits.
“As I welcome workers in the New Year, I would like to thank our employers who give us jobs where we get a paycheck at the end of the month. However, there are some employers who don’t want to pay their workers. I pray that God helps you this year to understand that these employees are there to earn a living not to work for free,”
He continued, “I have heard that this is very common in the media industry, I want to urge owners of these media houses to change or else we employ other means to resolve this because the problems the employers are facing are the same as what their workers are going through, Rwakajara said before urging government to reign on such employers.
The Employment Act of 2006 Cap 43 expressly prohibits an employer from not paying in full, the agreed amounts of their employee’s salaries and wages without obtaining the employees’ consent, in writing. The Act stipulates further that the wages have to be paid in legal tender from the employee’s workplace and not in other form of exchange.
The wages have to be paid at the end of the agreed period which may be daily, weekly or monthly, depending on the nature of your contract.
In addition, the employer is required by law to provide payment advice to the employee (payslips) detailing all the deductions (statutory and others) that he has made from the employee’s salary every time the wages are paid.
