New minimum wage for private-sector workers comes into effect

KATHMANDU: The new minimum wage for private-sector workers has come into effect from July 16. The government has increased the minimum wage of non-tea plantation workers to Rs 15,000 per month with effect from July 16.

The then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had announced to increase the minimum wage to Rs 15,000 on International Workers’ Day. Now, the workers will get Rs. 9,385 for basic wages, Rs. 5,615 for dearness allowance and Rs. 15,000 in total monthly. Workers working on a daily wage will get a basic wage of Rs 361 and a dearness allowance of Rs 216 and Rs 577 per day. Similarly, the basic wage of hourly workers has reached Rs. 48 and dearness allowance has reached Rs. 77 per hour.

Earlier, the minimum monthly wage was Rs 13,450. The Labor Act, 2074 BS has a provision to review the minimum wage of the workers every two years. According to the Labor Act, the minimum wage should have been revised last year, but the government has only increased wages this year, citing the Corona epidemic.

The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security has stated that the employers should provide facilities including the provident fund and allowance to the workers as per the Labor Act-2074 BS, Contribution Based Social Security Act-2074 BS and the prevailing law.

The ministry has made it clear that no employment agreement can be made that allows them to receive less than the minimum wage set by the government. Information regarding the increase in the minimum wage of the workers has been published in the Gazette on 3 May 2021.

Meanwhile, the government has fixed the minimum wage for tea plantation workers. The Ministry of Labor has published a notice in the Gazette stating that the monthly wage of tea plantation workers is Rs 12,081. Earlier, the minimum monthly wage of tea plantation workers was Rs 11,561.