Nayrouz News Agency : A total of 3,704 employers have filed requests with the Ministry of Labour to reduce the salaries of as many as 124,817 employees who are not currently required to be present at their workplaces, Minister of Labour Nidal Bataineh said on Tuesday.

In April, the government issued Defence Order No. 6 of 2020 with the aim of safeguarding the private sector from the ramifications of the COVID-19 crisis, allowing employers to apply to reduce the salaries of employees under strict criteria and following a thorough review of the requests, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

According to Bataineh, 3,443 of the requests, submitted via the Hemayeh.jo platform, were approved, of which 1,647 were limited to April salaries for 55,911 employees, while 1,796 requests included April and May salaries, affecting 52,119 staff members.

The minister said that workers listed within the approved requests are not required to work at the current stage, adding that 261 salary reduction applications were turned down for various reasons.

Bataineh said that the ministry is expecting more applications as the government has allowed the private sector to reopen at full capacity.

However, the minister noted that the entities that are not allowed to reopen, such as private schools, kindergartens, universities and cultural and training centres, can still apply under Defence Order No. 6 of 2020.