Despite the launch of the Labour Administration System last year, an online platform for employers and employees to file complaints about working conditions and the environment, few people seem to be aware of it. The Department of Labour shared this under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment during a recent training in Samtse. According to the Department, they received only about 450 labour-related complaints last year. Almost 80 per cent of the complaints were from the construction sector.
Labour officers from across the country attended the week-long competency-based framework training in Samtse. One of the topics was with regard to the operation of the updated version of the Labour Administration System or LAS.
Through the LAS, the Department of Labour will now be able to carry out the services such as labour inspection, labour dispute resolution and the provision of social protection for employees online.
“Without such a system, labour officers had to do a lot of documentation work. People had to visit our offices personally to file their complaints and grievances. Moreover, all payments of fines had to be done in person,” said Sonam Geley Dorjee, an Engineer at the Labour Protection Division under the Department of Labour. “But with this new updated system, one will no longer have to visit our offices as everything can be done online.”
The Department of Labour however feels that many cases are going unreported with not many people aware of the new online system.
“We have launched the online platform last year but it has not helped solve the problems. But this is an updated version. With only 27 labour officers in the country and with many enterprises, we cannot render our services to everyone, increasing the chances of more employers and employees being exploited,” said Sonam.
Besides the online labour grievance and complaint registration, the updated online system will also help employers or employees report accidents at workplaces and also submit and get approvals for the internal service rules and Occupational Health and Safety policies. Likewise, the system will also help in storing details about enterprises and their employees.
The Labour Administration System was launched in May, last year as part of the Bhutan Labour Market Information System with funding support from the ADB.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
