The parent Labour Relations Act, comprising five stages of implementation, has been described as “a balancing act” by the Minister responsible for Labour, Mrs. Cora Richardson Hodge.
She was at the time speaking in the Anguilla House of Assembly on Tuesday, February 12, during which she explained that the legislation was taking into account the interest and protection of both employees and employers.
The matter before the House was the introduction and debate of the short Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill 2019 moved by the Minister. The measure, which was passed, provides four ways by which a contract of employment may be terminated. These include dismissal, agreement or mutual consent and redundancy.
Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Palmovan Webster, was critical of various matters relating to the overall Labour Relations Ordinance as well as the new amendment. She argued, among other things, that the amending legislation did not take into account severance pay. She dismissed the intention of the legislation as a political ploy but nevertheless indicated her support for its basic principles.
Minister Richardson-Hodge said that notwithstanding all the controversy surrounding the Labour Relations Bill, the Anguilla United Front Government was able to take the Bill to the House of Assembly in November 2018.
“Some of the critical parts of the Labour Relations Act are beneficial and important for employees today,” she stated. “One of these is severance pay. Many other countries, including countries in this region, have had severance pay on their books for many years. Anguilla has never had severance pay on its books until now. It occurs in cases where a person is dismissed – not as a result of any wrongdoing, but as a result of a business closing for instance, or a new employee taking over from a previous employee. In those cases, where a person is let go, that person now has the opportunity to go and receive additional money based on the period during which he or she worked for a previous employer.”
The Minister, who carefully explained how the severance pay provision will work, continued. “That severance pay provision kicks in in August 2019. Someone asked me about it because a spouse worked in the hotel sector and after being employed for a number of years, the severance pay only becomes effective in August, and does not relate to the number of years when that person worked.
“The answer for this, Mr. Speaker, is simple but the reason is actually complex. We could not charge business owners and require them to pay severance pay for the years going back when…they would not have known that severance pay would have come into effect – and would not have made provision for it. Sometimes businesses operate with income and expenditure just about the same. In order to ensure that…employers are able to continue in their businesses, we had to set a time frame within which we start at zero and move forward.
“Some people may be upset, but the real reason for this is that severance pay has never been on our books. After so many years, had severance pay been included in our legislation…we would not have been in this situation – but we are in it now and you have to start somewhere.”
The Minister of Labour added: “This is part of the balancing act of looking at our employees and making sure that we have provisions on the books that look after them in these circumstances. And we have to balance it with ensuring that we do not destroy our employers’ businesses and allow them to continue. Mr. Speaker, that is where the balancing act lies.”
The Minister was commended by her colleagues, on the Government’s side of the House, for her hard work in bringing the main long-delayed Labour legislation to the Assembly and ensuring its passage.
