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Overtime is now an obsolete word
(Kaieteur News) – A man went to he boss and seh, “Boss, I work ten hours yesterday. Where is me overtime?”
Boss look at him and seh, “Overtime? You mean you want extra pay because you work extra?”
“Exactly.”
Boss shake he head. “Young man, you must understand business. We pay you for eight hours. The other two hours is called national service.”
That is how overtime does disappear in Guyana. Not because the hours disappear, but because somehow the money does disappear with it.
The law supposed to be clear. When workers go beyond the stipulated working hours, overtime is supposed to attract time-and-a-half. But apparently some employers reading the law with the same glasses people use to read small print on a medicine bottle.
Worker could start at eight in the morning, leave at five, six, seven o’clock, and when payday come, he seeing only the regular salary.
“Boss, what about the overtime?”
“Overtime?”
“Yes, I work three extra hours.”
“Oh, that. We consider that part of your commitment to the company.”
Commitment? If commitment could pay bills, nobody would need salary.
But here is where things get even sweeter. Some government agencies does have workers who have to remain on the job beyond 4:30 p.m. But instead of paying overtime at the proper rate, workers sometimes getting a flat allowance. Dem seh public service rules allow for commuted payment. But dem boys asking whether those rules are in violation of the Labour Act.
Meanwhile private employers saying, “We can’t afford overtime.”
Government agencies saying, “We don’t call it overtime. We call it an allowance.”
Worker saying, “Call it whatever you want. Me electricity company calling it arrears.”
The real mystery is who enforcing the overtime laws? Because if the law says time-and-a-half and everybody paying half-and-half, Guyana don’t have an overtime problem. Guyana got an enforcement problem working regular hours plus overtime. Dem Boys seh the only thing working harder than some Guyanese workers is the excuse for not paying them.
Talk half. Leff half.
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