Rise in minimum wage in private sector: Govt.

Thursday, 12 September 2024 03:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Minimum wage has increased by 40% to Rs. 21,000
Minimum limit payable in Employees’ Provident Funds, Trust Funds, and gratuity has also been increased
Salary hike is effective from September

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has signed the bill passed in Parliament, making the minimum basic salary for private sector employees Rs. 21,000.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment stated in a press release that this should be considered the minimum wage when calculating payments for the Employees’ Provident Fund, Employee Trust Fund, and gratuity.

From September this year, private sector employers will pay their employees a national minimum wage of Rs. 17,500 along with an additional minimum wage of Rs. 3,500 provided by the Budget Relief Acts No. 36 of 2005 and No. 4 of 2016, totalling a minimum wage of Rs. 21,000.

According to the press release issued by the Ministry, the new minimum wage should be applied to payments for the Employees’ Provident Fund, Employee Trust Fund, and gratuity.

The National Minimum Wage Act No. 03 of 2016 established a National Minimum Wage for all private sector employees, effective from January 1, 2016. The Act initially set a minimum wage of Rs. 10,000 for monthly salaried workers and Rs. 400 for daily wage workers.

In 2021, through an amendment to the Act, the minimum monthly wage was raised to Rs. 12,500 and the daily wage to Rs. 500, effective from August 2021.

With the recent economic crisis in the country and the rising cost of living, private sector wages have not increased since 2021. Therefore, a draft amendment was submitted to Parliament to increase the National Minimum Wage from Rs. 12,500 to Rs. 17,500, an increase of Rs. 5,000, and to raise the daily minimum wage from Rs. 500 to Rs. 700, an increase of Rs. 200.

After following the relevant steps, this amendment was passed by Parliament on 3 September 2024, and it is scheduled to be implemented from this month following the signing of the draft by the Speaker.

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