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The Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) has indicated that a number of its 300 corporate business members have been forced to terminate the service of employees who were laid off because of COVID-19. This may continue, in agreement with the Employment Termination and Redundancy Payments Act. "The 120-day rule with lay-offs is that after the 120 days, you either have to call back the employees to work, or you make them redundant. So those companies who don't yet have business coming in the door because of COVID and not being able to restart yet may have to face the expense of having to make employees redundant because the 120 days have elapsed," David Wan, the JEF president, told THE WEEKEND STAR.

He says this will further affect businesses financially as bosses will be forced to pay off redundant employees.

"There are a lot of issues being dealt with, and we're talking to the Government and the trade union to resolve some of these problems, but the outlook remains very cautious," he said.

Wan, also the general manager for Victoria Mutual Wealth Management Limited, says the JEF is currently trying to find out how many people have to be terminated.

Recovery and Adjustment

"We sent out surveys to members asking how many people they terminated or put on lay-off, but they have been slow in coming in because most of the members are dealing with recovery and adjustment," he said. Wan said the tourism and entertainment industries have suffered the greatest hit.

"You can't take the beach to the man who is not coming to Jamaica for the vacation again. So that industry has been hard hit ... and probably the hardest hit," he said.

Omar Robinson, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association, told THE WEEKEND STAR that the average occupancy at hotels is very low within this period, and so not many workers are needed. "With this occupancy in general, I would really think that about 15 to 20 per cent of the workforce is back. The others are still on either rotation or on lay-off," he said.

Robinson urged tourism industry employers to continuously engage their staff by either bringing them back temporarily based on their occupancy, or at least update them on the situation. "We're actually coming into the fall, which is really a slow period for occupancy. So even though some of the hotels are reopened, the average occupancy is low," he said, adding that some employees have to be rotated or laid off to avoid "mass redundancies".

Robinson said that he has written to the labour ministry, seeking an extension on lay-offs.

"Right now, the companies don't have the funds to pay. In the interest of the staff, it's not really advantageous because they wouldn't be getting monies right away," he said.