PNP proposes law to address ‘abusive’ contract employment
Published:Sunday | March 23, 2025 | 9:55 PMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
A proposal to pass comprehensive legislation to eliminate abusive contractual arrangements which deny workers their basic employment rights has resonated with President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) St Patrice Ennis.
In his contribution to the 2025-2026 Budget Debate on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Mark Golding argued that contract work is often used as a loophole which denies workers the basic set of rights and benefits set out in Jamaican law.
“We will ensure the equal treatment of all genuine workers, regardless of the legal form of their contracts,” Golding said.
He said while a future People’s National Party administration will be guided by International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, it will also go through a fulsome process of consultations with the trade unions, employer groups, sectoral groups and other key stakeholders before finalising the legislation.
Golding said a PNP administration would take a balanced approach, and encourage employers to regularise their employment contracts.
He said under the then Portia Simpson Miller administration, a tax incentive called the Employment Tax Credit (ETC) was introduced. The ETC has proven to be a significant win-win for workers, the Government, the private sector, and the broader economy, Golding added.
“It has led to the formalisation of more workers as employees, granting access to rights and benefits previously denied to them, such as participation in the NHT and NIS, formal employment status to open bank accounts, and eligibility for loans from regulated lending institutions.”
The incentive, according to Golding, has also boosted corporate tax compliance, resulting in substantial increases in government revenue.
Currently, the ETC is capped at 30 per cent of the tax chargeable on the company’s trading income.
“As we seek to eliminate the practice of using contract work to exclude from the rights and benefits that are afforded to formalised employees, I propose increasing this to 40 per cent of the tax chargeable.”
He said this would provide an even stronger incentive to employers to formalise the employment of their workers, and provide balance in the quest to ensure fair and equitable employment practices across the board.
PROPOSAL WELCOMED
Ennis told The Gleaner yesterday that the unions welcome this proposal to craft legislative changes to address contract work. He said the consultative approach involving stakeholders was also a step in the right direction.
The JCTU president said the elimination of “abusive” contract employment would also save persons employed under this arrangement a lot of money. Elaborating, Ennis said a person on contract who believes he may have been unfairly dismissed by his employer would have to first resort to the court for a determination of his status of employment.
He pointed out that the court would also have to determine whether the person’s termination can be dealt with under the country’s labour laws.
“It saves us a lot of money having to go to court to have these things determined,” he stated.
The union leader noted that contract employment has allowed employers to avoid the country’s labour laws because it would not be regulated by the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act.
He said persons on contract are generally treated as entities as against workers.
“They can immediately dismiss the person without any due process,” he said.
Ennis explained that contract work not only results in persons losing their natural benefits that flow from regularised status of employment, but it also denies the Government of revenues.
“It has denied us due process and the ability to benefit from maternity leave and other benefits that are applicable to workers who are not on contract,” he said.
However, Ennis said there was a place for contract work, noting that persons could be employed on a contractual basis to carry out work on a project over a specific timeline.
He said many persons employed on contract, even in the public service, were not entitled to increments, pension and did not get the benefit of moving up the salary scale.
At the same time, Golding also indicated that a PNP government in its first year in office would ask the Planning Institute of Jamaica to review shifting from a minimum wage to a liveable wage.
“The benefits of families earning a liveable wage and living above the poverty line will outweigh any temporary effects on the employment market,” he said.
Ennis said the Minimum Wage Advisory Commission has made this recommendation on previous occasions to move from minimum to a liveable wage. However, he said the administration has not acted on this proposal so far.