Business wants feedback on Employee Bill

Last week, Labour Minister Danny Montano said the existing Workmen’s Compensation Act will be replaced by this bill. He indicated that under this bill, all businesses would have to pay a mandatory insurance to cover injury to or death of any of their workers on the job.

The minister said he has not taken the new Employee Compensation Bill to Cabinet as yet because he was still trying to determine the financial impact of the mandatory insurance plan. In an interview yesterday, San Juan Business Association president Gail Merhair said there seemed to be “lots of gray areas” in the measures which Montano spoke about. She suggested that before Government moves ahead with this legislation, it should hold extensive consultations with the business community and the labour movement. Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association president Paul Quesnel agreed with Merhair that there needed to be more information about the legislation before the business community could come to a verdict.

However Quesnel said Montano’s announcement of this forthcoming legislation should not come as a surprise to anybody because there were a lot of deficiencies in the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

Downtown Owners and Merchants Association president Gregory Aboud said his association supported the notion of businesses having insurance to cover any injuries which its workers suffered on the job. He added that this could have the effect of improving measures to ensure safety in the workplace.