Section 18, The Industrial Relations and Trade Union Act, 2024

(1) Where a national minimum wage has been confirmedunder this Act, an employer shall, in cases to which the minimum rate is applicable, pay wages to an employee at not less than the minimum rate clear of all deductions, and, if he fails to do so, shall be liable in respect of each minimum offence to a fine not less than 20 months national wage. (2) Where an offence for which the employer is liable to a fine under subsection (1) has been committed by an agent of the employer or by some other person, that agent or other person shall be liable to be prosecuted for the offence in the same manner as if he were the employer, and either together with, or before or after the employer, and shall be liable to the same fine as that to which the employer is liable. (3) Where an employer who is charged with an offence under this section proves to the satisfaction of the Court that he has used due diligence to enforce the execution of this section, and that the offence was in fact committed without his knowledge, consent or connivance, he shall, in the event of that agent or other person being found guilty of committing the offence, be exempted from any fine. (4) The power of the Court under subsection (1) of section 20, to order an employer to pay a sum which appears to the Court to be due to an employee on account of wages, shall be without prejudice to whether or not an agent or some other person is found guilty of committing an offence under this section. (5) Where the immediate employer of an employee to whom a national minimum wage applies, is himself in the employment of some other person, and the employee is employed in the premises of that other person, that other person shall, for the purposes of this Act relating to the penalty for not paying wages in accordance with the rate, be deemed to be the employer of the employee jointly with the immediate employer.