Viral Exploitation Of Interns Work Like Horses Arbitrarily Paid: Companies Can Be Sued

JAKARTA - Interns at a digital startup company engaged in education admit to being exploited in their workplace. With workloads like full-time employees, they claim that they are only paid Rp. 100,000 per month. That's not even an exact number. Unfortunately, if they resign before the end of the contract, they can be fined Rp. 500 thousand.

This news was first crowded after being uploaded to the Twitter account @taktekbum. In his tweet, he posted a screenshot of an intern expressing his grievances.

In the upload, the intern said that the startup company where he works provides the same work targets as full-time employees. But sadly, the wages they receive are only Rp. 100,000 per month.

Not to mention if there are cuts for which the apprentices don't know what the cause is. "Even that is still cut by a percentage depending on our performance, which we ourselves don't know how to calculate," the message reads.

One example of the irregularities in the payroll system, as written in the tweet, is that there are several fellow interns who work well, but are only paid Rp. 100,000 for three months of work. "It's not very transparent," he said.

"Does the internship contract have a cut depending on performance? Nothing. We only found out after receiving our rights," he wrote.

Wow.

— Tach Tech Boom (@taktekbum) October 25, 2021

The problems don't stop there. Interns who are not strong with such work and wage mechanisms, cannot simply resign from the company.

This startup, which is said to be engaged in education, sets a penalty for interns who resign before their internship period ends. Miraculously, the fine is greater than the wages they receive each month, which is Rp. 500 thousand.

"I have proof that some of my friends paid for it. There were dozens who resigned, at least in my internship class," as written in a personal message (DM) shared by the @taktekbum account. So what exactly are the regulations governing interns?

As explained by the Legal Consultation account Justika from Hukum Online, via Twitter, he explained, regulations related to internships are explained in Article 1 number 11 of the Manpower Act. In the regulation, it is explained that apprenticeship is a job training system that is guided by experienced workers with the aim of improving skills.

Meanwhile, the right of apprentices is regulated in the Minister of Manpower Regulation Number 6 of 2020 concerning the Implementation of Domestic Apprenticeships. Among other things, interns receive pocket money, guidance on skill improvement, and fulfillment of rights according to the Apprenticeship Agreement. They must also be provided with occupational safety and health facilities and obtain an internship certificate.

As for their obligations, interns must obey the internship agreement, follow the apprenticeship program rules and company rules, and maintain the good name of the company. The maximum internship period is one year. Then what about the regulations on the amount of the apprentice's wages?

Still based on Justika's explanation, the amount of wages is not regulated in the law. "However, companies need to pay attention to the workload and working hours of apprentices in determining the amount of pocket money," he tweeted.

Then, if the apprentice does not get the amount of wages as stated in the internship agreement contract, he has the right to sue the company on the basis of Default. "For this violation, the company is obliged to pay compensation and interest to the apprentices."

Amount of pocket money: Although the amount of wages is not regulated by law, companies need to pay attention to the workload and working hours of apprentices in determining the amount of pocket money.

— Justika | Legal Consultation via Online (@justika_id) October 26, 2021

Along with the development of the gig economy -- a free labor system -- and the abundance of prospective workers, there may be many startup companies or startups that only "take advantage of" interns without providing them with appropriate rewards. However, there are also many companies, both large and still start-ups, who are fully responsible for their workers. So how do you find out?

One of the things that can be done to check how much responsibility the company has in managing its employees well is to ask for company certification. One of them is ISO 9001 certified.

What is ISO 9001 certification? As reported by the management strategy consultant page, Sentralsistem.com, ISO 9001 is an international standard that establishes the requirements for a quality management system.

In ISO 9001, companies are required to have good resources and standard operating procedures that are qualified. So it is unlikely that companies that have been certified to ISO 9001 will pay less for their employees or prospective employees.

In addition, one of the points of conformity with ISO 9001, especially ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 has specific rules such as compliance with laws and regulations. So that if the company is ISO certified, it can be ascertained that the company complies, or at least is literate with regulations.

*Read other information about BURUH or read other interesting articles from Ramdan Febrian Arifin.