A group of young tint-testing officers is reporting lengthy delays in their wages, with some saying they have not been paid for more than two months and complaining that poor communication from the Barbados Licensing Authority (BLA) has left them without answers.
A Barbados TODAY investigation has since confirmed that several payments were mistakenly deposited to the wrong bank account, prompting the BLA to write to the financial institution requesting reversals.
The frustrated officers, stationed at the National Cultural Foundation’s car park, said nine of them were assigned to the West Terrace, St James site under contracts running from September to December.
They are paid fortnightly but claim that seven of them have received only three payments when they should have had five. The other two have reportedly faced even greater difficulty, with one officer receiving only one payment and the other – a 24-year-old mother of two – not receiving a single cent since starting the job.
“I have two children and I have bills to pay so this is really upsetting me,” she said. “This is ten weeks since I haven’t been paid and four weeks ago I reached out to the Licensing Authority and I was told that they made a mistake; they sent the money to the wrong account.”
She told Barbados TODAY that she received a letter on Monday confirming that the BLA had asked the bank to return the funds, but questioned why she was given assurances weeks ago that the matter was being resolved.
“The letter is dated [Monday] – how can they tell me four weeks ago that they were dealing with the issue? These things take time – do you know how long I will have to wait to get paid?” the frustrated mother asked.
“I informed them from the second time we were due to be paid that I wasn’t receiving the money.”
Most of the workers are in their early 20s and told Barbados TODAY they felt they were being taken advantage of because of their age.
The unpaid mother of two continued: “We would like some answers as to why payments are so late, and I would like to see some progress in being paid because this is a breach of contract. My problem is also the attitudes of the workers… You call and you can never reach someone in management, even though you are told someone will get back to you.”
She said she had reached out to her constituency representative, St Michael North MP Davidson Ishmael, for assistance. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several calls to Chief Licensing Officer Treca McCarthy-Broomes for comment also went unanswered.
However, Barbados TODAY later obtained a copy of the letter the BLA sent to CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank.
The letter, which was dated Monday and signed by executive officer Natalie Miller on behalf of McCarthy-Broomes, read: “I am writing to bring your attention to three payments that were inadvertently sent to an incorrect account number… corresponding to the periods September 8–20; September 22–October 4; and October 6–18 … I kindly request your urgent assistance in investigating this matter and the necessary steps to have the funds reversed and correctly credited.”
The workers have since echoed their calls for straightforward communication and a clear indication of when they will finally be paid.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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