EMPLOYERS WERE given an insight into the workings of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) during a recent series of seminars.
Supervisor in the severance section of the NIS, Samuel Morris, who gave the address under the title Severance Payment And Rebates said: “We recognise that over a period of time, that we had some problems in relation to the processing of severance and the understanding of the legislation as well”.
He said the NIS was seeking to counteract uncertainty and improve the situation for the NIS and employers.
“We hope that things will work better for you and for us, because if you understand the things that we need then you will be in a position to give us what we need. If we understand what you need the same things will happen,” Morris said during the session held at the Sir Frank Walcott Building.
Morris discussed the Severance Payments Act, how to complete the rebate form and what would happen if employers failed to pay severance. He said severance pay was commonly referred to as “payout money”, but it was a monetary compensation for loss of employment because of redundancy.
To qualify for severance payment, Morris said, the employee must work no less than 21 hours a week, have worked for at least 104 continuous weeks and must be over 16 years of age but under the pensionable age of 66 years.
Morris also said if a person had been laid off for 13 or more consecutive weeks or had been working short time – which is for less than half of their full salary for a series of 16 or more weeks in a 26-week period – then they qualified to apply for severance (LK)
