The Ministry of Labour Commissioner assigned in Lower Margibi County, Mr. S. Roye Brown has ruled in two separate cases of injured workers of CHICO Construction Company and ICE Water Incorporated in Margibi County.
In 2019 Mr. Blessing Konneh, an employee of CHICO Construction Company filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour through its Labour Commissioner against his employer for injury sustained on the job.
In his letter of complaint to the Labour Commissioner, Mr. Konneh said that he sustained injury on his leg why carrying out his regular assigned duty with the company. He noted that following the incident, the management of the company did less in paying his entitlement in keeping with Decent Work Act of Liberia.
“Therefore, I write to seek your timely interventions in ensuring that I get justices from former employer in keeping with law.”
Following months of interventions by the Ministry of Labour through the use of social dialogue in the Case “Injured Worker, Mr. Blessing Konneh vs CHICO”, the Management of CHICO made a total payment of Seven Thousand—Five Hundred United States Dollars (US$7,500) settlement to Mr. Konneh .
Also, the case involving injured worker, Mr. Musa Sesay and his former employer “ICE Water Incorporated” was finally brought to an end and payment in the amount of Four Thousand- Seven Hundred-Thirty Five United States Dollars (USD$4, 735.00) was made as benefits for him.
Mr. Sesay in 2018 complained to the Ministry of Labour of injury sustained while in the employ of ICE Water Inc. After a little over two years of intense social dialogue with the management and the injured Liberian employee, finally settlements were recently made by the management at the Ministry of Labour regional office in Herbel, Margibi County.
Meanwhile, both Mr. Blessing Konneh and Mr. Musa Sesay have praised the Ministry of Labour through its Lower Margibi County Labour Commissioner for successfully bringing to an end their longstanding cases and full settlement of their just benefits in line with Labour Law of Liberia.
The two are calling on other Liberians and non-Liberians working within the labour sector of Liberia to take their complaints to the Ministry of Labour of bad labour practices meted against them by employers in the workplace.
“We taught that with the length of time our complaints took with the Ministry of Labour and what we have been hearing about the Ministry, we actually taught that we were not going to get nothing from these cases. But today, we want to thank the Government of Liberia and Ministry of Labour for ensuring that our just benefits were paid.”
These are just two of several complaints by workers in the country that the Ministry of Labour has resolved applying the social dialogue measures thereby preventing poor workers from engaging powerful employers in long legal battles which in most times the workers may end up abandoning their case because of unbearable reasons.
Since the introduction of Social Dialogue by the International Labour Organization (ILO), as an effective and efficient mechanism in addressing workplace issues between employers and employees, it has contributed greatly in amicably resolving disputes at various workplaces as well as between employers and employees in Liberia. It has also gone a long way in helping the Ministry of Labour in administering, regulating and promoting industrial harmony in the labour sector of the country.
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