Psychiatric Hospital workers complain of repeated late salaries

It was a blue Christmas for several employees at the Psychiatric Hospital who claimed they had not received their salaries since November.

The affected workers, including those in the dietary and housekeeping departments and some nurses, expressed frustration over the recurring issue that affected more than 20 employees.

The workers reported to Barbados TODAY that the delay in payment not only hindered their ability to participate in traditional holiday activities but also created financial difficulties in meeting household and other financial commitments.

Some workers mentioned resorting to sick leave or considering other actions to address their concerns. Talk of planning industrial action was circulating in messages among the employees on WhatsApp, Barbados TODAY has learned.

The Whatsapp note stated that only administrative staff and doctors are always paid on schedule.

“It was a dreary Christmas for some workers at the Psychiatric Hospital who were forced to watch from the sidelines as others bought their seasonal gifts and goodies . . . because they themselves had little or no money to buy . . . . The possibility of industrial action is real,” the note said.

Although not directly confirming that action was pending, one worker told Barbados TODAY: “When people get frustrated and they can’t take it anymore, what tends to happen? People tend to do a lot of things you don’t want them to do.”

Another said: “This is becoming a big issue as it not only occurred this month, but it has been a recurring problem for years. It is becoming very frustrating and we cannot take it anymore. Not being paid on December 22nd as expected, a couple days before Christmas, is not good. How do you expect us to feel? We couldn’t even buy food like ham or turkey.”

The hospital’s director, David Leacock, maintained that payment protocols were followed and suggested that salary discrepancies were not the fault of the hospital. He clarified that the temporary staff not on the payroll were the only ones impacted due to the process involved in obtaining authorisation for their payments.

“And that is because they are temporary, meaning they are working [to fill in for] those on vacation or those out on sick leave. So the process for them to get paid is that we have to submit documentation to the head office [which] processes it and then sends back the authorisation for us to pay them,” Leacock explained.

“In the last year or two, since COVID-19, we have been authorised to go ahead and pay our staff and we have been doing that. During the Christmas period, unfortunately, some persons did not receive payments before Christmas and it was not anything of our doing. All things were processed on our end and sent up to the [government] treasury for payments. Those persons who are paid through the credit union, it takes them longer to get paid and that has been a challenge for most of our staff.”

The hospital director further explained: “The credit union has to use an intermediary bank and, for example, if the bank is ScotiaBank, the treasury would send the money to ScotiaBank, who would then send it to the credit union and that can take a few days to happen.

“So the same thing would have happened on this occasion. Obviously, because it’s Christmas, workers want to be paid to provide for their families and we understand that but unfortunately, things did not go as they normally would and there was a delay in those persons receiving their money.

“We are hopeful that by today [Wednesday] all persons would have been paid. When we go into the system we are actually seeing the money has been issued by the Treasury,” Leacock said.

However, workers complained that they have had to deal with late payments for more than two years and the situation “seems to be getting worse and worse”.

“You know what it is to be working and having to be worried about if you are going to get paid or not?” one employee said. “Sometimes you get paid as much as a week after payday, sometimes you just don’t get paid for that month and then you are given excuses like the treasury having problems, your name was dropped off the payroll or the system crashed.”

“So we don’t know what to believe or who to believe. We have reported this issue to management already and what is interesting is that it’s the same names that keep having payment problems. So we are at a stage where we are just fed up. It’s beginning to feel as though this is a game – and you don’t play with people’s money. We are coming down here and working very hard . . . . This is just a lot to deal with.”

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb