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– Companies providing services to the government will be inspected and those violating regulations may lose their contracts – Jagdeo
Guyana’s National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is to conduct inspections on security companies providing services to government agencies across the country.
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said the government will tag companies that fail to waive NIS deductions.
At a recent press conference, Jagdeo told reporters that several citizens employed by various security companies across the country had complained that their salaries were deducted but their employers did not remit the money to the NIS.
Jagdeo revealed that this was one of several major concerns raised in recent government campaigns.
“One issue that often comes up is how these security companies treat people. Many of the companies that provide security to governments across the country, many of them have a habit of withholding NIS payments and not paying them,” he said.
“If they (employees) later get injured or something like that, when they go to the NIS, they cannot get their benefits. So, we have ordered the NIS to inspect all companies that have contracts to provide services on behalf of the Government of Guyana and we expect a report in two weeks. If we have adverse findings against certain companies in this matter, they risk losing their contracts,” Jagdeo further explained.
Just recently, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall issued a strong warning to employers, reminding them that it is a criminal offence to withhold National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions from employees and not remit them to the NIS.
“Security companies are paid for their services. They have to pay the people who work for them and they also have to ensure that they are paid on time and that taxes and NIS, especially NIS, are deducted and that they are refundable,” Dr Jagdeo added.
Following a recent local court ruling, the Attorney General reminded that while employers can deduct NIS from employees’ wages, failure to pay these amounts to NIS is a criminal offense.
Nandlall raised the issue while responding to circulated reports that NIS had filed an appeal against the High Court judgment.
In the judgment, High Court Judge Damone Younge ordered NIS to pay the pension to Sharif Zainul, a former employee of Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL).
Nandlall explained that the appeal was not initiated by the Attorney General’s Office but by the NIA itself, which revealed key aspects of the case.
“No such appeal was filed by the Attorney General’s Office. An appeal was filed, but it was filed by the National Insurance Scheme.”
Zainul, through his legal representative, sued the NIS alone, without including his employer.
He highlighted the key issue at hand: Toolsie Persaud Limited was not made a party to the proceedings and the appeal was intended to address that omission.
“NIS records show that the employer did not pay any money to NIS. This gentleman apparently has records submitted to the court to prove that his wages or salary were deducted.
“But the NIS records do not confirm that these deductions were actually paid to NIS, and that is the problem in this case. Because we know, you know there are a lot of employers who actually deduct NIS payments from their employees,” he said.
The Attorney General therefore warned that deducting NIS monies from employees but failing to remit those monies to the NIS would constitute a criminal offence under the law.
The NIS mandates the extension of social security coverage to all persons between the ages of sixteen (16) and sixty (60) who are in insurable employment.
According to the NIS website, both employers and employees pay contributions to the scheme based on a “wage system”. The total contribution by employee contributors is 14% of the actual wages/salaries paid to the employee. This is calculated by deducting 5.6% from the employee’s wages, with the remaining 8.4% paid by the employer on behalf of the employee. Currently, the actual wages/salaries are capped at $280,000.00 per month or $64,615.00 per week for National Insurance payments.
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