By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE (Friday 16th October 2020) — Labour Commissioner Shernel James informed that additional steps have been introduced to protect the integrity of processing claims, which is why it is taking longer for payments to be made. As of 12th October, the Department of Labour has received 1,855 claims and at least 620 have been processed. Government has infused the Severance Payment Fund with $11.1 million and to date approximately 250 claims have been paid out, all in the hotel and tourism sector. “The Department of Labour apologises to persons who submitted claims since May and have not yet received payment, but I want to assure persons that all claims received from May to August 31st have gone through the processing stage,” she said.