Dear Editor,

The NIS official’s perspective (reported in your columns) of the superficial exercise contemplated by that institution and the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, is well on target. Minimal productive results could be expected from the ‘visits’ of low level functionaries to the records of already identifiable defaulting large employers. The proposed exercise is largely a palliative, and certainly not close to being remedial.

One of the fundamental weaknesses of the current dispensation is the statutory dependency on the employer to report the recruitment of staff and to initiate the required registration process of employer and employee.

It is not clear whether and when the employee becomes privy to certified membership of the NIS, that is apart from the actual deductibles effected by the employer. It also needs to be confirmed whether the employee is entitled to be furnished with a periodic statement of the joint subscription of the NIS.

A study of the Barbados model – which incidentally is managed and operated by well-qualified professionals – will show, first of all, a highly computerised system in operation. Any person sixteen years and over (employed or unemployed) could register his/her name and particulars with NIS online. When that person is actually employed, he/she then inputs the relevant information for the NIS which would take productive action to ensure that the relevant employer complies with all necessary legal requirements therefrom.

This initiative has the effect of bringing more employers into the net, and consequently of generating more assured revenue. The investment in setting up the necessary technology has proved to be most beneficial.

Reference to the NIS law of Barbados would also reveal that the agency is legally empowered to execute a lien on the property of an employer deemed to be a major defaulter. The court system has been known to be very supportive in this regard. The whole process is reputedly free from any non-procedural interventions.

A more detailed version of the above process was formally submitted to the NIS Reform Committee by yours truly.

Yours faithfully,
E  B John