Employees of the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa and the Hilton Barbados Resort have been given the assurance that their outstanding severance is currently being processed by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and should be handed over to them “shortly”.
In a Barbados TODAY interview on Tuesday, NIS Chairman Leslie Haynes Q.C. gave the assurance as he doubled down on the scheme’s commitment to assist severed workers across the hospitality sector, seemingly neglected by their former employers.
His comments come as the frustrated former Accra employees prepare to protest once again for the remaining 25 per cent of their severance and payment in lieu of notice that was promised by management by March 31st, but which was never delivered.
“There’s a process and I can’t tell you as I sit here that the Accra workers have been paid, but I can tell you that if they have not yet been paid, they will be paid shortly and their 25 per cent of severance pay that the employer should have been given a rebate on, that will be paid to the employees if they have not already been paid. It is being processed,” the NIS chairman told Barbados TODAY.
In relation to a handful of Hilton employees who are also yet to receive their monies, Haynes revealed that the delay is because of issues with documentation on the part of the employer and the former employees.
“If the Hilton employees have not been paid, there is a procedure that has been set up for them and I think that there’s a procedure being set up for them that will allow them to be paid shortly,” Haynes disclosed.
When contacted, Accra workers revealed that to the best of their knowledge, none of the workers had received the additional monies. In fact, they have been mobilising to stage another protest in the coming days.
In the meantime, former employees of other companies are coming out of the woodwork expressing similar issues, including those from the Beach House restaurant at Sunset Crest, St James.
Haynes however promised that despite already spending $200 million over the COVID-19 pandemic to assist displaced workers here, the NIS would continue to assist persons in search of their just due.
“We are not going to allow Barbadians to suffer and not get their benefits because we are cash-strapped. We have $3.8 billion over in investments…, so we will cash in the investments, pay the benefits and hopefully, down the road we would catch ourselves…, make an assessment and determine how best we will move forward,” the NIS chairman explained.
“There is no issue with people not getting their benefits. Yes, the unemployment fund went down to zero, but that doesn’t mean we can’t cash in our investments… So we will survive and the issue is, like everybody else in this country, how best we will come out of this situation.
“Right now there is no reason to panic about the NIS. If this continues for another 10 years, we will be in a spot of bother, but the sooner we can take stock and assess, the better it will be for all of us,” he added.
Haynes argued that because of the unusual circumstances, NIS staff has agreed to work overtime to deal with extraordinary issues like mass unemployment and severance in addition to the usual claims.
“I think they are doing a good job. Of course in any organisation, there is room for improvement, but the truth of it is when you get caught with a pandemic like this, and you have to rise to the occasion, you have your systems in place. Those are the systems you are going to work with. You can’t really improve those systems during the pandemic and during emergencies,” Haynes contended.
He added that while the scheme would continue to respond to workers whose issues are highlighted in the press and expedite where possible, they ought to be mindful that they must also attend to others who have been waiting on their monies in silence.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)
