By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Electrical Workers Union President Stephano Greene said yesterday receiving payments from an employer and National Insurance is not “anything new” and is done in most government agencies and some private corporations.
His comments came after BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller accused the union of “double dipping” on National Insurance benefits.
Earlier this week, Mr Miller issued a cooperation wide memo telling staff they will no longer be allowed to collect NIB monies for certain benefits, such as sick benefit, while still being paid by BEC.
He said beginning November 1, BEC employees will no longer be allowed to ‘double dip’ by collecting both NIB and their full salary.
However Mr Greene said BEC is not the only organisation that “negotiated this benefit.”
“It is not just us that does this, it is not just BEC. We have it, Water and Sewerage has it, Batelco as well, in fact most government agencies do this. We made this agreement during negotiations. We negotiated these sick benefits, when you are off sick, BEC deducts the days from the sick days we negotiated and they pay us full pay,” he said.
“Once these sick hours expire then you go on partial pay. But while you are out sick you can request BEC and your doctor to give you the necessary forms to collect National Insurance. What Mr Miller doesn’t realise is, it is not double dipping, employees pay NIB payments too so what we claim is our portion not the portion that BEC pays.”
Mr Greene said the union is prepared to withdraw their labour if the issues do not get resolved.
He said: “Mr Miller’s actions are illegal and that could be dealt with in many ways. The best way is to see someone get cuffs put on them and go to jail but we will seek the legal approach and outside of that we will withdraw our labour if it is necessary, if it comes to that.
“Mr Miller is trying to spin the story to make him look like a champion or a hero. I do not know how he runs his personal business and maybe they need to get unionised so it runs differently, but you can not bully people, you have to negotiate.
“He has yet to have an intelligent conversation with us. Maybe he needs to buy a summer house and lay off and relax because what he is doing is not in the best interests of the Bahamian people.”
Comments
ThisIsOurs 11 years, 1 month ago
I find it hard to believe that national insurance would restore a person 100%+. Insurance is never meant to put you in a better position than you were originally. As I understand it, by law every person is entitled to a certain number of sick days. If you are out sick up to that limit, your employer pays you full pay. If you are out sick beyond that point, your employer may have a long term sick plan which entitles you to half pay for a certain number of weeks. At that point you can claim NIB benefits but only for the portion of pay you are missing. When the long term indemnity pay ends you can claim again from national insurance. But at no time should you receive NIB benefits for a portion of your salary that you have been paid.
Mr Greene's statement is ok up to his blanket "when you are out sick", it should have been qualified as "...when you are out sick and your sick days are exhausted...". Shameful.
John 11 years, 1 month ago
Most companies only paid for a a certain amount of sick days out of the year. After that an employee would have to either claim National Insurance or their private insurance. This is to prevent employees from staying home and making more home sick than they make at work and on the job.
B_I_D___ 11 years, 1 month ago
The double dip is a totally unacceptable and the fact that the union supports it and backs it is a disgrace...but what do you expect from unions!! It is totally NOT an accepted practice from law abiding private companies and employees...bu hey, we are a union, we know NIB as no way to track it...so we approve of it and back it.
USAhelp 11 years, 1 month ago
Take from the poor so we union hands can get more
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