By Min Ni Kyaw - Apr 02, 2025
#Letter
Dear Myanmar Labour News,
I would like to ask you a few things to better understand the situation we're facing.
- When an employee takes a day off, are their duties for that day still considered their responsibility? Often, even when we request leave with valid reasons and proper signatures from supervisors, it is still denied. Does the law allow this?
- We are being asked to work even on major public holidays. Even if we say we don’t want to work on those days, we are told we cannot refuse. And we are not paid double wages or any overtime pay despite working on such days. Is this standard legal practice, or is this only applicable to certain types of jobs?
I’m a worker in the construction industry. There are quite a few staff—between 50 and 100 site workers. The site and office teams are separated, but when we signed employment contracts, they didn’t mention this division. We were told we’d have Sundays and public holidays off. But in practice, only the office staff gets these days off. Site workers do not.
We are told we must work even on public holidays unless we have official approval from the office to take the day off. We still have to work remotely, either at home or on-site even when we officially take a day off. We’re expected to work from home even when we are sick. But if it’s a day off or approved leave, shouldn't we be completely free from work duties?
We are also being made to work on public holidays. We are pressured with excuses like “the office is closed, but the site is not,” if we refuse. And we receive no overtime compensation for these days.
I don’t know whether the other workers are satisfied or not. Maybe they’re working despite being unhappy. But for me, it’s not okay. Some of us are clearly being exploited, and others seem to have just accepted it. Perhaps they continue to work because they feel they can’t do anything about it.
We still have to work even on days we’re sick and should be resting in bed with medicine. Taking leave just means our name is officially marked as absent, but the workload doesn’t go away.
Our working hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Deductions are certain if we arrive even slightly late. And we often work until 5:30 or 6:00 PM without any overtime pay although we are officially supposed to leave at 5:00 PM.
We are not given any separate travel allowances or additional compensation despite not receiving double pay on overtime days.
At the site, we often hear senior staff saying things like “this person have networks or connections,” implying favoritism or control. We are just regular employees who are being paid to work. But we don’t have much power, and we are afraid we’ll lose our jobs.
I just want to ask for support if possible. I am a construction site clerk.
