The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended the government come up with measures to ensure that contract workers in the public sector receive fair wages and equal remuneration for work as state officials.
The recommendations come in the NHRC's review of complaints about unfair work contracts lodged by those working for state agencies. Contract workers claim they receive inferior pay and benefits despite putting in the same number of hours and doing the same kind of work as state officials.
The rights body says it has received complaints from contract workers in the state sector since 2006 -- a year after the Comptroller-General's Department sent a circular letter to agencies involved in outsourcing or subcontracting.
Some agencies no longer accept civil servants as permanent staff, and new recruits are hired as contract workers. This follows the 1998 cabinet resolution on bureaucratic reforms which included cuts to manpower in the public sector.
In its review, the NHRC found poor treatment of contract workers in state agencies violates their rights. They are hired to do the same work as civil servants and state employees, yet they are not eligible for the same pay and welfare benefits and some also have pay deducted for missing work.
According to the NHRC, such treatment is against the principle of "equal pay for equal work" and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
In its recommendations, the NHRC calls on the government to consider providing contract workers with welfare benefits equal to those stated in the labour protection law. These benefits include paid leave, pay rises, and appropriate healthcare benefits.