The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PEOPLE queued on a long line outside the National Insurance Board yesterday as some complained about their unemployment cheque not being ready for collection.

While some flocked to NIB for assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, others were waiting on payouts after losing their jobs even before the crisis hit locally.

Walter Morrison said he was laid off from his job back in January. He said he has been to NIB several times to unsuccessfully collect a benefit.

One woman told The Tribune she waited about six weeks for her cheque and came to see if it was ready, but did not get it yesterday.

However, a 27-year-old pre-school worker said it did not take her that long to get her unemployment cheque.

On Thursday, The Tribune reported that NIB revealed that some 2,000 unemployment benefit claims have been stalled due to employers failing to send required contribution statements. However, NIB Minister Brensil Rolle explained that the board has paid out 15,000 cheques since the COVID-payout process started about two weeks ago and persons should have been notified when the cheques were ready and why they have not received them.

“One or two persons might have some problems for example might have exhausted their unemployment benefit…. but certainly every single person who applied individually, we responded to them quickly. We try to get to them as quickly as we can,” he said.

“.....This is not going to be an easy process. We’re talking about a board that did roughly 7,000 unemployment cheques in a year. We’re almost doing that a day, a week now. So there’s gonna be some challenge. People will be paid. We’re doing it as quickly as possible.

“We’ve cut all the red tape...”