Payout problem

The government is reconsidering its decision not to provide more compensation to the widow of a footwear worker killed in last week’s ceiling collapse at Wing Star Shoes, a supplier to Asics, a Labour Ministry official has said.

Officials said on Sunday that Rim Roeun’s wife would not receive compensation from the National Social Security Fund beyond $1,000 for her husband’s funeral expenses because she does not have a marriage certificate.

But Seng Sakda, director-general of the ministry’s general directorate of labour, said on Tuesday that the government was considering accepting a letter of support from the couple’s commune chief, in Takeo province’s Bati district, in lieu of a certificate.

“We usually demand a marriage certificate, but the NSSF has met and discussed this. We are waiting for a decision,” he said.

Sakda did not confirm how much more compensation Roeun’s wife, who gave birth last month, would be eligible for, but said that in such circumstances, a widow was usually provided for until she remarried.