Villa Shipping and Trading Company cuts employee wages

Villa Shipping and Trading Company Pvt. Ltd - the holding company - has cut wages of the company's resort workers..

The company, commonly known as Villa, released a circular informing the company's resort workers of drastic salary cuts over the rapid-spreading of Covid-19 globally.

Highlighting that the country's tourism has been affected by the discovery of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country, the circular states that the number of incoming guests has reduced significantly.

The circular further stated that the company has determined to cut wages of all resort workers under their employment as of April 2020, as a cost-cutting measure to sustain the company due to the impact of Covid-19 on the country's tourism, and in turn, the company's revenue.

According to the circular, 10% will be cut from employees remunerated under MVR 4،999, 20% for employees remunerated between MVR5,000-MVR9,999, 35% for employees remunerated between MVR10,000 - MVR 49،999 and 50% for employees remunerated above MVR50,000.

The circular signed by the company's managing director, Siyad Gasim further reads that the company does not wish to terminate any employees under the current public health circumstances, therefore, wage cuts are the next best alternative to cut costs. Nevertheless, the wages will be restored as the situation changes.

The circular goes onto recognise and apologise for the potential difficulties facing employees due to the wage cuts.

While the conglomerate founded by Jumhoree party's leader and MP for Maamigili, Gasim Ibrahim operates several resorts in the country, reports of inadequate pay and withheld service charge have surfaced from time to time. The company is the first to take cost-cutting measures against the economic impact of Covid-19.