The Ministry of Labor says it has not violated any provision of the Liberian constitution concerning increment of work permit as was claimed by the National Legislature Joint on Labour. Labour Minister Tiawon Gongloe speaking on a local radio maintained that the price of alien work permit remains unchanged.Minister Gongloe indicated that if the House Joint Committee on labor matters has any qualm with the increment of work permit fees, they should seek advice from the Temple of Justice, the country's highest court for interpretation. The minister sounded that he acted in accordance to laws of the entity thus citing regulation 17 issued in September 2009. “The payment of work permit remains the same at US$1000.00, instead of US$450.00. Any alien who seeks employment in Liberia is advised to pay the work permit fees,” he added.

Additionally, section 2.0 of the September 2009 Regulation 17  under the headline 'Statutory Mandate' says the Ministry of Labour has the statutory responsibility of managing the labor sector and related activities on behalf of the Government of Liberia.  According to the mandate, the responsibility includes but not limited to policy development and coordination, regulating and monitoring of labor practices, enforcement of labor laws and promotion of best practices. At the same time, page 54 of the Labor Law under the title “Employment of Persons Not Liberians” says no employer shall employ an employee not a Liberian citizen unless such alien employee is in possession of a work permit issued by the Ministry of Labour authorizing his employment in the capacity in which he or she is to be employed.

Recently, the National Legislature Joint Committee on Labour, Ways, Means and Finance and Judiciary on Labour Ministry said the Ministry of Labour has no authority to increase work permit fees beyond the cap set by the legislature (US$1000.00).The joint committee considered the fees increment as non-tax revenue and Article 34(d) of the constitution vested the legislature with the authority to raise revenue.The committee at the same time called for the halting of the process until the proper procedure is observed.