The National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is being accused of not furnishing several laid-off or severed employees of statutory corporations with their unemployment benefits.
The charge has come from general secretary of Unity Workers’ Union (UWU), Senator Caswell Franklyn, who said this was only causing more hardship to Barbadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking during yesterday’s Down To Brass Tacks radio call-in programme on Starcom Network, he said under the National Insurance and Social Security (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2018, workers employed by any statutory board to which the Pensions Act CAP 25 applied, and any board specified in the schedule of the Statutory Board (Pension) Act CAP 384, were now entitled to receive unemployment or sickness benefits if they had been appointed.
“They were considered permanent workers and they would always get a salary with up to a year of sick leave, but without unemployment benefits because there was no likelihood you were going to be unemployed; you were a permanent worker. All of that changed when the Wynton Campbell case came up, and the Government refused to fix it and they are now exploiting some of the provisions there and sending home permanent workers, sometimes lay-off, sometimes dismissal,” he charged. (RA)
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