Generate/ERILOGO1.gif About ERI Disclaimer

Palau - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Koror

 

CLIMATE

Wet season May to November; hot and humid.

 

LANGUAGES

English and Palauan official in all states except Sonsoral (Sonsorolese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official).

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Palau’s legal system is based on Trust Territory laws, acts of the legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws.

 

CURRENCY

US Dollar (USD)

 

PALAU - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

PALAU - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Koror

Topside Area

P.O. Box 6028

Koror, Republic of Palau 96940

Telephone: (680) 488-2920

Fax: (680) 488-2911

 

Embassy of the Republic of Palau at Washington, D.C.

1150 18th St. N.W. # 750

Washington D.C. 20036

Telephone: (202) 452-6814

Fax: (202) 452-6281

Email:info@palauembassy.com

http://www.palauembassy.com/

 

PALAU - HOLIDAYS

 

PALAU - MINIMUM AGE

The Constitution states that the Government shall protect children from exploitation; children are protected by the general constitutional provision against forced and bonded labor, and such practices are not known to occur (see Section 6.c.). There is no minimum age for employment. Children typically are not employed in the wage economy, but some assist their families with fishing, agriculture, and other small-scale family enterprises. By regulation no foreigner under the age of 21 may be admitted into the country for employment purposes, and the Government enforces this regulation effectively.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Palau – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.

 

PALAU - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The law sets the minimum wage at $2.50 per hour. Foreign workers are not included under from the minimum wage law.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Palau – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

PALAU - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

PALAU - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides for the right of all persons to assemble peacefully or to associate with others for any lawful purpose, including the right to join and organize labor unions. There are no active employee organizations.

 

The Constitution does not provide for the right to strike, and the Government has not addressed this issue. There were no strikes during the year.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

There is no legislation concerning trade union organization, including collective bargaining, although there are no legal impediments to either. Wages in the cash economy are determined by market factors.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Constitution prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude except to punish crime. The law does not prohibit specifically forced and bonded labor by children; however, there were no reports that such practices occur. Instances were reported of foreign workers, especially domestic helpers and unskilled laborers, who were forced to accept jobs different from those for which they were recruited. The freedom of foreign workers to leave employment situations not to their liking may be hindered by verbal threats or the withholding of passports and return tickets to the country in which they were recruited.

 

There were reports that women and some men were trafficked to the country to work in karaoke bars as hostesses and prostitutes, as domestics in private homes, and on construction sites (see Section 6.f.).

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The Constitution states that the Government shall protect children from exploitation; children are protected by the general constitutional provision against forced and bonded labor, and such practices are not known to occur (see Section 6.c.). There is no minimum age for employment. Children typically are not employed in the wage economy, but some assist their families with fishing, agriculture, and other small-scale family enterprises. By regulation no foreigner under the age of 21 may be admitted into the country for employment purposes, and the Government enforces this regulation effectively.

 

The Government has not ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The law sets the minimum wage at $2.50 per hour. Foreign workers are not included under from the minimum wage law. The minimum wage appears to be sufficient to provide a worker and family with a decent standard of living. Anecdotal evidence indicates that unskilled workers for commercial firms (usually foreigners) are paid only $1.50 to $2.00 per hour. However, foreign workers usually are provided, in addition to their wages, with basic accommodations and food at no or nominal cost. Although these wages are low, the country continues to attract large numbers of foreign workers from the Philippines, People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. There are more than 7,000 foreign nationals with work permits in the country,

 

61 percent from the Philippines. Philippine-based illegal recruiters who falsified the workers' documents recruited a majority of the workers from the Philippines. These falsified documents eventually lead to problems between employers and employees. In 1998 the Philippines opened an embassy in Koror and informed the Government and the public about the Philippine Government recruiting office with responsibility for overseeing Philippine workers overseas and issuing overseas working permits. The Embassy has been working closely with the Government's Labor Division to resolve the problems created by the falsified documents, and it interceded in several cases involving allegations of worker abuse during the year; it also assisted in the repatriation of several workers.

 

There is no legislation concerning maximum hours of work, although most businesses are closed on either Saturday or Sunday. The Division of Labor has established some regulations regarding conditions of employment for nonresident workers. The Division may inspect the conditions of the workplace and employer-provided housing on specific complaint of the employees, but actual enforcement is sporadic. Working conditions vary in practice. No law specifically gives workers the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to their continued employment, and no law protects workers who file complaints about such conditions.

 

As the number of foreign workers increases, there continued to be increasing numbers of reports of mistreatment of such workers by their employers. These incidents of alleged mistreatment are common knowledge among the general public but rarely are reported to law enforcement authorities by the foreign workers due to fear of their employers. Some types of mistreatment that foreign workers consistently complain about include physical and verbal abuse; being required to work overtime and on days off without pay; employers withholding monthly salary; employers and recruiters deducting the amount of airfare from salaries; and substandard housing. Some workers also complained that they are not provided sufficient food. The foreign workers most likely to be abused are those who work under contracts and earn between $100 and $300 a month as domestic helpers, construction workers, farmers, waitresses, beauticians, and hostesses in karaoke bars and massage parlors. Under the terms of their contracts, they also are to be provided room and board and air travel from their home country to Palau and back after the termination of their contracts. It generally is assumed that legislators specifically exempted contract workers in the 1998 minimum wage bill to ensure a continued supply of low cost labor in industries that the legislators often control.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The Constitution does not prohibit specifically trafficking in persons. There were reports of women and some men being trafficked to the country from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and the Philippines to work in karaoke bars as hostesses and prostitutes, as domestics in private homes, and on construction sites. In one case, six Russian women were lured to the country with promises of legal employment; however, upon arrival in 1999 they were forced to engage in prostitution. Following complaints to police by several of the women, four People's Republic of China nationals were arrested, tried, convicted of conspiracy to commit prostitution (1-year sentence suspended), fined $1,000, and deported in February. The freedom of foreign workers to leave employment situations not to their liking or into which they were forced may be hindered by verbal threats or the withholding of passports and return tickets to the country in which they were recruited (see Section 6.c.).

 

The country has no laws against trafficking in persons; however, there are laws against slavery, fraud, and prostitution. The Divisions of Immigration and Labor are involved in combating trafficking; however, the Government lacks funding and expertise to address the problem in practice. There is no formalized assistance available for victims, and victims normally are detained, jailed, or deported if they have committed a crime such as prostitution. There are no NGO's that specifically address trafficking.

 

PALAU - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

PALAU - STANDARD WORKWEEK

There is no legislation concerning maximum hours of work, although most businesses are closed on either Saturday or Sunday.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Palau – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)