Ministry of Economic Development announced that a special hotline was established for employees calling to report salary deductions, terminations and other issues that may surface over the economic downturn brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.
With the spread of the disease and mandatory quarantines leading to businesses closing down and reducing costs, recession fears are on the rise in Maldives. Several citizens have taken their worries to social media, expressing ways cutbacks could, in the weeks and months to come, affect the living situation of employees working in all aspects of the industry.
Due to this, the ministry on March 21 released a statement urging all individuals to report employers terminating or deducting pay via the reporting module on their online platform www.jobcenter.mv
As per a statement released by the Economic Ministry, employees can report by calling the hotline number 1475. The call center will be open daily Sunday to Thursday from 1000 hours till 1300 hours.
The government had previously announced the decision to grant an allowance of MVR 5,000 for a period of three months starting from this month, for those who face unemployment and certain level of salary deductions.
The government has taken an initiative to introduce financial schemes aimed at maintaining company cash flow, in addition to other measures meant to provide assistance to businesses facing economic setbacks over the global health pandemic.
On March 19, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer revealed that the government will introduce financial packages worth MVR 2.5 billion to combat the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These measures were intended to prevent the closing down of local businesses and prevent loss of jobs. Thus, one of the set conditions of eligibility to acquiring said financial aid is having opted to not deduct any amount from salaries and allowances of their employees.
Maldives currently records 245 confirmed, 228 active and two probable cases of COVID-19, with a total of 17 recoveries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The new strain of novel coronavirus has infected over 3 million people and claimed over 211,900 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 925,800 people have recovered.
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