Government officials have suggested the widow of the man crushed to death last month at the Wing Star Shoes factory, a supplier to Asics, will still be denied compensation from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a labour rights worker said yesterday.

American Center for International Labor Solidarity country manager Dave Welsh said that in a meeting on Friday NSSF officials had told him Nuon Chhorvy, 21, was unlikely to receive support from the fund without a valid marriage certificate.

Officials had previously said they were considering accepting a letter from a commune chief in Kampong Speu province confirming Nuon Chhorvy, 21, had been married to Rim Roeun, 22, who died in the ceiling collapse.

“On Friday, they reneged on what they had talked about,” Welsh said. “The marriage certificate thing is a real issue, as they’re not issued in a widespread [way].

“Every worker and every factory is supposed to pay into the [NSSF] . . . [The government] should be making an example of this case.”

Roeun’s uncle, Rim Rorn, who told the Post on May 23 that Chhorvy had discovered that she actually does have a marriage certificate, and Sum Sophorn, NSSF deputy director, could not be reached.

ACILS also met with Asics officials on Friday and suggested that the families of Roeun and 15-year-old Kim Dany, who was also killed, be compensated more than $50,000, Welsh said.

The figure was based on an ILO convention and payments made over deaths in Bangladesh since 2010.

An Asics spokeswoman said last week that the $15,500 “compassion payments” the factory had already made to families was not a final settlement.

“How [Asics] will determine a final amount will include talks with the ILO, labour unions and NGOs,” she said.