Manage your Business

Labour

  •  Back
  • Import Duty & Revenue Replacement Duty
  • Other Taxes in Belize
  • Labour
  • Immigration Service

FUNCTIONS OF THE LABOUR DEPARTMENT

  • Enforcement of labour legislations
  • Inspection of all workplaces
  • Labour advice and education
  • Foster trade unionism and promote healthy industrial relations
  • Receive and settle labour complaints
  • Provide employment services
  • Vetting of temporary employment permits

Labour complaints may be settled in the magistrate court. Workers can seek redress for unfair dismissal or wrongful termination through the Labour Complaints Tribunal. The following is important to note in our labour regulations.

MINIMUM WAGES

  • All manual workers except those engaged in agriculture, or agro-industry, or export-oriented industry - $3.30 an hour e.g. construction worker, security guards.
  • All manual workers engaged in agriculture, agro-industry, export-oriented industry - $3.30 an hour e.g. farm workers, workers at a sewing factory.
  • Shop Assistants who are employed where liquor is sold and consumed - $3.30 an hour e.g. waitresses.
  • Shop Assistants employed in shops where liquor is not sold and consumed - $3.30 per hour e.g. gas stations, dry goods stores.
  • Domestic workers employed in private homes - $3.30 per hour.
  • Domestic workers employed in boarding houses, guest houses, hotels, and other public establishments - $3.30 per hour.
  • Bonafide students who may be employed outside of school hours or during school vacation in premises covered by the Shops Act - $3.00 per hour.

It is important to note that minimum wages only cover unskilled workers. Workers who possess a certificate or additional training must negotiate their wages.

RESTRICTED DEDUCTIONS

Section 105 of the Labour Act strictly prohibits an employer from making any deduction or any agreement or contract with a worker to deduct money from a worker’s wages for or in respect of any fine or for bad or negligent work or for injury to the materials or to other property of the employer.

NOTE TO WORKERS

All oral contracts of service, that is contracts made by word of mouth, are governed by the Labour Act. It is contrary to the law to make any oral contract that violates any provisions of the Labour Act that govern oral contracts. Workers are to ensure that their employers make deductions for Social Security contributions and pay those deductions into the Social Security Office. A worker should check with the nearest Social Security office to see whether or not the employer is paying. The mere fact that an employer makes Social Security deductions does not mean the deductions are actually being paid into Social Security. A worker should not leave it to the employer to register him or her and assist with obtaining a Social Security ID card.

NOTE TO EMPLOYERS

Employers are required to make Social Security deductions for all their workers and to forward those payments to the Social Security Board. Employers are required to keep and maintain employment records for their workers in accordance with section 16 of the Labour Act. Those records should include the name and address of the worker; rate of pay; hours and dates of work; rate of overtime; gross pay for each pay period; and signature of the employee in respect of each pay period. The keeping of records is a legal obligation that actually protects the employer in the event of a labour dispute with a worker.

SEVERANCE PAY

Where an employee who has been continuously employed by any employer for a period of

  • five to ten years and (i) his employment is terminated by the employer, or (ii) the worker retires on or after attaining the age of sixty years or on medical grounds, that the worker shall be paid a severance pay of one week’s wages in respect of each complete year of service; or
  • over ten years and his employment is (i) terminated by the employer for reasons, which do not amount to dismissal, or (ii) ended because the worker retires on or after attaining the age of sixty years or on medical grounds, (iii) worker abandons the service of an employer for good and sufficient cause, or
  • (iv) a worker who resigns after a minimum of 10 years is eligible for a gratuity equal to severance pay, or (v) terminated on the expiration of a contract for a definite period
  • that worker shall be paid a severance pay of two weeks’ wages in respect of each complete year of service.

Note: Where a worker has completed over 10 years of continuous employment, the severance pay shall be computed as follows: a. For the period served before 1st May, 2011 at the rate of one week’s pay for each complete year of service b. For the period served after 1st May, 2011 at the rate of two weeks’ pay for each complete year of service. In the case of casual workers, they must work an aggregate of one hundred and eighty (180) days in a year to be entitled to severance pay.

PUBLIC AND BANK HOLIDAY/REST DAY

If the rest day is the same day every week and a public and bank holiday falls on the rest day, then the worker is NOT entitled to pay for the public and bank holiday. The worker is not to lose from a regular week’s wages if a public holiday falls on a regular workday.

SICK LEAVE A worker has to be employed for at least sixty (60) days to be entitled to sick leave with pay. Within any twelve months’ period, he is entitled to sixteen (16) working days’ sick leave with full pay. A worker should produce a medical certificate to be entitled to sick leave with pay. An employer should give a worker in writing forty-eight (48) hours to produce a medical certificate.

PAYMENTS FOR SICK LEAVE: the employer pays the difference between payments made by the Social Security Board (SSB) and the employee’s basic rate of pay for sixteen (16) working days. Payment after the sixteen (16) working days of illness will be paid by Social Security in accordance with the Social Security Act.

For more information visit https://mlgrd.gov.bz/