Act of Parliament · As enacted
National Minimum Wage of Workers (Amendment) Act 2025
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
This Act may be cited as the National Minimum
Wage of Workers (Amendment) Act, No. 11 of 2025.
The provisions of this Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on April 1, 2025.
s 2Amendment of section 3 of Act, No. 3 of 2016
Section 3 of the National Minimum Wage of Workers
Act, No. 3 of 2016 is hereby amended by the repeal of subsection (1) thereof and the substitution therefor, of the following: -
“(l) (a) For the period commencing on April 1,
2025 and ending on December 31, 2025, the national minimum monthly wage for all workers in any industry or service shall be twenty-seven thousand rupees, and the national minimum daily wage of a worker shall be one thousand eighty rupees.
With effect from January 1, 2026, the national minimum monthly wage for all workers in any industry or service shall be thirty thousand rupees, and the national minimum daily wage of a worker shall be one thousand two hundred rupees.”.
s 3Inclusion of the budgetary relief allowances in the national minimum monthly wage
For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that -
the budgetary relief allowances payable as at
March 31, 2025, under the provisions of the
Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers Act,
No. 36 of 2005, the Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers Act, No. 4 of 2016, or both, shall form part of the national minimum monthly or daily wage specified in section 2 payable to all workers in any industry or service; and
the wage of any worker who, as at March 31,
2025, received a wage that included the budgetary relief allowances under the provisions of the
Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers Act,
No. 36 of 2005, the Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers Act, No. 4 of 2016, or both such Acts, shall, from the date of commencement of this Act, consolidate such allowances as part of such wage of such worker.
s 4Prohibition on reduction of wage and allowances
An employer shall not reduce the monthly wage of any worker in any industry or service, including any allowances payable under the National Minimum Wage of Workers Act,
No. 3 of 2016, the Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers
Act, No. 36 of 2005, or the Budgetary Relief Allowance of
Workers Act, No. 4 of 2016, in a manner that would negate the increase made to the national minimum wage by the amendments to the National Minimum Wage of Workers
Act, No. 3 of 2016 under this Act.
s 5Implementation of increase in national minimum wage
The Commissioner-General shall issue directives to any employer, including the final employer who obtains the services of any worker in any industry or service through an intermediary or contractor to take all necessary measures to ensure that the increase made to the national minimum wage by the amendments to the National Minimum Wage of Workers Act, No. 3 of 2016 under this Act is duly implemented.
s 6Sinhala text to prevail in case of inconsistency
In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.