…scheme unveils list of 21 delinquent companies, individuals

…PSC Chairman condemns defaulters, to raise matter at executive meeting

TWENTY-ONE businesses and individuals are some “tens of millions” in default of their National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions, a grave short-coming which stands to not only hinder the livelihood of employees but the potential revenue earning of companies.

The list of these employers was published in the Guyana Chronicle Sunday Newspaper and those names are in arrears with “multiple months” outstanding. The companies listed were: Camex Ltd; Courtney Benn Contracting Service Ltd; Fly Jamaica Airways Ltd; New Thriving Chinese Restaurant; Strategic Action Security Services; Brian Chase and Ingrid Chase Mining and Trucking Service; Hopkinson Mining Security Services Inc.; Kwakwani Utilities Inc.; Camex Security Services Inc.; Shivraj Investments Ltd.; Universal Group of Companies Inc.; Guyana Football Federation; Awad N. Boodhoo General Store; Atlas Security Service Inc.; Amazon Security and Investigation Services and Sentinel Security Inc..

Meanwhile, the individual names on the list were: Rudolph Kissoon; Dwayne Ferdinand; Ravin Singh; Wilfred Success and Wazir Hussain. They were all asked to make “urgent contact” with the Scheme’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) or to visit the NIS’s office on Brickdam and Winter Place, Georgetown.

Director on the NIS Board, Mervyn Williams told the Guyana Chronicle, on Monday, that the decision to make the names public came from the level of the Board and is intended to alert the employers of the importance of making timely payments. According to the National Insurance and Social Security Act, Chapter 36:01, the NIS system was established to provide “pecuniary payments by way of old age benefit, invalidity benefit, survivor’s benefit, sickness benefit, maternity benefit and funeral benefit”.

It also serves to “substitute for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance, a system of insurance against injury or death caused by accident arising out of and in the course of employment or resulting from disease due to the nature of employment…”

Businesses and individuals are expected to make contributions on or before the 15th day of every month for the preceding month. Williams explained that when contributions are paid late, it becomes very problematic for the beneficiaries and the NIS which often times receives the blame for challenges experienced as a result. “When you make a claim [for example] for sickness benefit or maternity benefit, you’ve got to prove what is referred to as insurability and that means that you would have had to have a certain number of contributions within a window of time,” he said.

“When a contribution comes in late and you are found not to be in insurable employment, it interrupts access to the benefits. So, the Compliance Officers will have to go out and prove that you were working; prove that they were on the job; prove that there is no conspiracy. The Compliance Officers will have to establish that there was no conspiracy between employee and employer to avoid payment of contributions…those things delay the processing time for benefits.”

Giving another example, he stated that if a company owes the NIS for 5 months and an employee turns 60 years old and requires 10 contributions to be due his/her pension, this will be denied. The individual would then have to make an appeal to the Tribunal for a hearing, yet receiving these benefits can still take time as it is ultimately dependent on the time period in which the employer makes these payments.

As a result, Williams said persons resort to complain that the NIS is “eager to collect but unwilling to pay” when it is often times a situation of late payments or no payments at all. Contributions paid late for self-employed persons present a greater problem as late-paid contribution cannot be used for the processing of old age pension.

“If the self-employed persons do not pay on time, they may very well find that they have paid all of their contributions but because a large percentage of the contributions would have been paid late, they cannot be used in the computation of their pension and therefore, even though they have these contributions, there is no value in terms of an old age pension. And, such people who do not understand the provisions of the Law will go around saying ‘NIS robbed me’,” he said.

Furthermore, the Board’s Director added that companies lose out on opportunities for tendering for the supply of goods and service when they are unable to receive their Compliance Certificates which are dependent on the contributions. Even more important, was his reminder that it is an offence for companies to fail to pay their contributions by the due date and those who refuse to pay altogether can be prosecuted under the Laws of Guyana.

COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE
Meanwhile, newly-elected Private Sector Commission (PSC) Chairman, Captain Gerry Gouveia, said that it is and will always be “completely unacceptable” for businesses to be defaulting in their contributions to agencies such as the NIS. Gouveia told the Guyana Chronicle that there is no excuse for businesses which refuse to make such payments referring to it as “a terrible thing for companies to do”.

“Personally — and I believe I speak for the Private Sector Commission— [when I say] that we do not condone companies not paying their NIS. In fact, it’s criminal; it’s criminal to deduct money from your employees and not pay it to the NIS. Those employees are now going to be exposed and so, I applaud the actions by the NIS to expose the people who are doing that,” he said. Gouveia added that soon he will be meeting with other Executives of the PSC for the first meeting under his leadership in which he will raise the issue as a “legal and a moral obligation”.

“There could never be a justification…the Private Sector would never show sympathy for anyone of our companies and any private sector company for that matter. NIS is a very serious issue. It has to do with the healthcare and welfare of our workers and our staff and it protects us and the employees,” Gouveia stated. He also told the Guyana Chronicle that the same goes for businesses that fail to pay their taxes to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). He said: “The Private Sector fully supports the responsibility of citizens and companies to pay their taxes but I also would say that just like the NIS would do I think the GRA needs to also ensure that people pay their taxes and if they don’t the GRA needs to deal with that.”

Back in 2016 NIS had said that delinquent businesses and employers collectively had owed the scheme $1.3 billion. During the presentation of the 2016 Budget, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had told the National Assembly that the NIS had faced several challenges over the years, including lack of compliance by both employers and employees combined with unprofitable investments. Jordan said then that the management of NIS will work diligently to ensure greater compliance through the enforcement of the laws. “This year (2016), management will be targeting delinquent businesses and employers, in order to recover the $1.3 billion in arrears owed to the Scheme,” he declared.