Workers’ wait for gratuity payment lengthened

Aggrieved workers who have been waiting on gratuity payments for in excess of five years will have to wait a little longer to receive their outstanding monies.
This is on account of the legal documents which are required for the release of their monies not being received by the Communities Minister as yet.
The workers who were attached to the Diamond-Grove Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), on the East Bank of Demerara, were laid-off from their jobs in 2013, because their services became redundant. After being laid-off, the workers were promised that they would be paid their gratuity. However, to date, they have not received those monies.
One of the affected workers, Edward Adolphus related to Guyana Times that the workers were given a “royal run-around” when they enquired about their monies. After visiting the NDC and the Labour Department, the tractor operator learnt that the monies had been budgeted for and were waiting on Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan’s approval.
An overseer at the NDC confirmed this. “We cannot pay without the approval,” he told this publication.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Department of the Communities Ministry has disclosed that the relevant documents have not yet reached the Minister.
In fact, those documents are currently with the Attorney General’s office. After which, they will supposedly be handed over to the Minister for his approval.