Expat in Papua New Guinea not getting salary.

I had been working in PNG as a accountant post . i also  want to sunmit .

what company is this? so that it will help/warn others also.

As soon as this is sorted out I would be happy to give information on the company and expat in charge.

May I know the name of company...I will work  in lae in April 2013...

Sorry to hear of your situation!!

It appears as if there are more than a few dodgy companies around.

I did post this in the other topic but am copying and pasting here for your reference.  I don't think its good news.

Not sure how you will go.

CCH publishes the PNG Labour Act and they have the following commentary :

"Moreover, it seems that the Employment Act does not apply to non-citizens (Atlas Plant Hire Pty. Ltd. v Beck (1984)"

"...It seems that persons exempted from the provisions of the Act would have to rely on their common law rights (if any).

It appears as if you would have to hire a lawyer to sue which may be a very expensive exercise.

Thank you tomriddle. However, I found the non-citizen workpermit guide issued by the Secretary, Department of Labour and Industrial Relations in accordance with Section 55 of the Employment of Non-Citizens Act 2007, written in 2009. Regarding repatriation, it clearly states that it is the legal obligation of the company to repatriate a non-citizen employee if their employment is terminated for any reason. Also that the company must cover all traveling, living and accomodation expenses from the date of termination untill the employee reaches his point of origin. If the company fails to do this, it is an offence and a court may impose a fine of up to K10,000.00 for a breach of the law in this regard. This protects the expat employee in this regard. As for the salary, Immigration and the Labour Department is very helpfull. I will give it a few days and see if the company will pay me my outstanding salaries and repatiate me. If they don't, I have the contact detail of very important people in the covernment that are waiting to hear from me. So this should be sorted out soon.

Hi Zele,

The Employment of Non Citizens Act as you suggest does talk about the requirement for repatriation.

It says "..the employer is liable for the expenses of repatriation of the non-citizen to the place of engagement."

It also says "The expenses of repatriation shall include -
a)  Travelling abd subvistence expenses during the journey; and

b)  subsistence expenses (if any) between the date of termination fo the employment and the date of repatriation...

Unfortunately in reality this doesn't give a great deal of protection to you.

As you rightly suggest a court may impoose a fine of 10,000 kina.

But how does this get to court and when?  You pay a lawyer to represent you and take the company to court... and the courts are so backed up that they will look at this in 2 years time? You then have to prove your case in court, which requires you paying a lawyer at 1,000kina per hour to represent you... And in the meantime?

Practically this gives you very little protection at all.

And not many companies feel threatened by a fine of 10,000 kina.

I would suggest you are better talking to your high up friends or someone in the Labour department.

Good luck and I hope something is sorted out!

They have a case of fraud and quite a long list against them in the high court on friday, and my case is part of the complaints against them. My lawyer had a look at my things today and is confident that we will win the case. Management has also ignored 3 court orders so far ordering them to pay all salaries... They are in very big trouble.

Ok.  That makes it easier that there are current proceedings agains them!!

All the best and hope it works out for you.