After receiving criticism from the public concerning its decision to remove the “perk” of providing paid lunch hours and 15-minute breaks for employees with less than four years of tenure, Pennywise has had a change of heart.
Pennywise director Dr Shivum Paladee had revealed recently that in an effort to deal with the increased labour costs stemming from the amended minimum wage and to prevent passing this additional expense on to customers, employees with less than four years of tenure would not be paid for their lunch hour or 15-minute break for management.
However, in a statement on its social media pages this afternoon, Pennywise said that following “several calls from concerned citizens” on changes made to its terms and conditions of employment, they decided to revert to the original agreement.
They added: “Following a media interview yesterday, the management of Pennywise Cosmetics Ltd has received several calls from concerned citizens about a change that was inadvertently made to the terms and conditions of employment of some of our employees.”
“We wish to advise our valuable employees, and the concerned public, that we have decided to revert to the original terms and conditions as applicable.”
“The decision has been made following advice from our industrial relations consultant as we seek to continue to comply with the provisions of the Minimum Wage Act and other applicable labour laws,” it also stated.