Workers complain about take-home pay cut
Workers at Applied Computer Services e-Services Group International are restive over allegations of “unjust deductions” from their salaries and a pay structure review resulting in smaller take-home pay at times.
Additionally, workers at the offshore call centre collection’s department, complained that they could not receive commissions, unless they collected 100 per cent of money owed.
An internal memo obtained by the Observer also confirmed that the salaries of certain workers would be docked anywhere from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $4,000 for going over their lunch and break times.
According to the memo, an employee who went over the lunch time by two minutes had $500 deducted for the first time violation. A second employee with an eighth violation had her salary docked $4,000 for going over her lunch and break time, by a combined 85 minutes over a seven-day period.
“If you return even one minute late they will withdraw money starting from $500 and so some people end up only going home with $2,000 or $3,000 for the week because money has been deducted from their salary,” a disgruntled worker said.
The Observer was promised by a manager that E-Services head, Patrick Casserly would respond to the workers claims but several days later he was yet to respond to messages left on his cell phone.
With operations in Montego Bay and Portmore, St Catherine, the e-Services website notes that it currently processes over 20,000,000 transactions annually for a growing list of major US and international clients.
According to one employee, before new measures were introduced, they could receive a commission once they collected at least 80 per cent of a debt.
“…Now, you don’t get anything unless you collect 100 per cent of the debt,” she said, adding: “If for three months you don’t meet 80 per cent of the target, you are liable to be fired.”
The workers said they had no one to complain to as they were contract workers without any union representation. But some were adamant that they would take the matter to the Ministry of Labour.
