A person must be an employee1 in order to be entitled to the minimum wage (MW).
The Government has announced that the hourly rate of the MW will increase from $8.50 to $10.50 from 1 June 2025. A video of the announcement can be viewed on YouTube.
But where is the law that implements the recommendation? Such a law is not mentioned in the Minimum Wage (National and Sectoral Minimum Wage) Order 2025 (SI 2025/55). Is the law mentioned in an amendment to the Minimum Wage Act 2017 or any other labour law?
Please note that it is unlawful to pay 85% of the MW to an employee1 - if there is no legal basis for doing so.
Statutory Paternity Leave/Pay
The Family Leave Bill 2005 (dated 28 July 2025) was published after 1 June 2025 - even though the Government announced that statutory paternity leave/pay would come into force on 1 June 2025. See the comments below.
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1. The definition of an employee can be found in section 2 of the Minimum Wage Act 2017.
6 comments:
The Government is putting the cart before the horse.
The NIS said that the Budget gave it the legal authority to administer paternity benefit.
What the NISSS may do and what an employer can do are two different matters.
How can an employer comply with statutory paternity leave/pay (SPLP) - if the statute does not exist?
For example, what is the qualifying length of employment for SPLP? How much notice must a father give to his employer - before he takes SPLP? Must SPLP be taken within a certain time after the birth of the child? Can SPLP be taken as one-week blocks?
In Barbados Today, Kim Tudor claimed that the NIS was acting with “parliamentary intent and precedent” but she failed to provide any previous examples of NIS implementing any Government policy before the relevant laws came into force.
The documents that an UNMARRIED father must present to the NISSS – in order to claim statutory paternity benefit (SPB) can be found - in draft regulation 17(D)(2) of the National Insurance and Social Security (Benefit) Regulations 1967.
The documents include -
“a letter from the woman stating that the man is the father of the child for whom the claim is being made”
“a letter issued by his employer showing the approved request for paternity leave” [It is very strange that a MARRIED father is not required to present such a letter to the NISSS. See draft reg. 17(D)(1)]
However (as at 12 August 2025), the above documents are not mentioned on the NISSS website in relation to an UNMARRIED father making a claim for SPB.
The NISSS website does not draw any distinction between a MARRIED father and an UNMARRIED father – even though the draft regulations clearly do so.
If the Government knew that the relevant laws would not be in force on or before June 1, 2025.
Why not delay the introduction of paternity leave and benefit until, for example, October 1, 2025 ?
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