The National Insurance Scheme (NIS) yesterday denied a claim by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) that it has taken a decision not to honour claims for sickness or accident benefits made by sugar workers.
On Friday GAWU issued a call for the reported decision to be rescinded after saying that it had learned from its members that claims made were not being processed for payments. GAWU, along with the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), which also represents sugar workers, said it wrote to NIS General Manager Holly Greaves on May 22 but up to Friday they were still awaiting a response.
This newspaper was also told that a memorandum was recently circulated to NIS offices advising that payments not be made for claims by sugar workers from January 2020, although some sugar workers were still able to access payments from claims made during the year before the notice was issued.
Responding to a report on the same subject in a social media page of a local online news site, NIS Public Relations Officer Dianne Lewis Baxter, in a statement, denied the assertion that the scheme had stopped honouring the claims made by sugar workers.
“Please be advised, that even though NIS is severely affected by COVID and had to reduce the working hours for its employees to accommodate a shift system, the Scheme continues to honour its obligations by paying out millions in both sickness and medical benefits to employees of GUYSUCO and all other Agencies,” she said.
“NIS has also offered relief through amnesty for employers who are unable to pay the interest,” she added.
